Eternal Arcadia
by Pegasus Knight
Summary: Thought you knew the story of Skies of Arcadia? Think again. Enhanced storylines in "Eternal Arcadia" explore a depth to the world and characters that the game did not, making it realistic while remaining loyal to the plot.
1. Prologue

((I've converted my long-unused LiveJournal into a dev blog for the story. If you're interested, head over to http://princess-paola. for author's notes, progress updates, thoughts, debates, explanations on my crappy made up lore, etc. ;) ))

Forty-four light-years from earth, there exists a solar system very similar to ours, composed of a sun and its smaller, dimmer counterpart, which are host to three separate planets. The third planet in the solar system is about the size of Neptune and is mostly a gas giant, with an orbital path that mimics our Earth's around the suns. While here this planet has yet to be found, its unique conditions make it suitable for life. And indeed, hidden amongst the clouds of this planet, there is life. A separate society of humans lives there, and they call the planet Arcadia.

The surface of Arcadia is quite hot, about 175 degrees Fahrenheit or 80 degrees Celsius. Like Jupiter, it is endlessly ravaged by storms and rarely sees the actual light of the sun. The largest storm currently spanning its surface is a hurricane that has lasted some 700 years. The gaping eye of this monster currently hovers in an area known to the Arcadians as Mid Ocean, and is called the Vortex. It is the only safe way down through the fierce and gaseous storm clouds to the planet's actual surface.

Beneath the layers of gaseous mist and thick, boiling mud covering Arcadia's core, there exists an abundant element known as Velorium. This dense ore is a very powerful electromagnet and is often charged different polarities by both the heavy storms and the magnetic core of the planet. These polarities conflict heavily with the core and huge chunks of rock are often repelled up into the atmosphere, where gravity is both much weaker and the temperature much cooler. When at last the magnetic force reaches equilibrium with gravity, the result is a myriad of floating islands in the sky -- some sizable enough to be considered continents.

It is on these islands that life is able to flourish. Gravity is not bone-crushing this high in the atmosphere, and the storms are much gentler, providing plenty of fresh water for the land. Over time, the barren earth hardened and became host to terran life forms, supporting all sorts of oxygen-creating plant life that in turn supported a whole variety of animal life. Each region of the world varied depending upon which of Arcadia's geostaionary moons it hovered beneath.

Arcadia has seven moons, six of which are known, each one cast a different color due to its unique soil content. Occasionally pieces of stone fall from these moons, either dislodged by a meteor or pulled out by Arcadia's immense gravitational pull, and plummet to the planet. Charged by the planet's magnetic forces and by their descent through the atmosphere, these rocks exhibit immense natural powers and radiate an incredible amount of energy. Known as Moon Stones, they are essential to life all around Arcadia for their ability to be forged into crafting materials or to be used as fuel.

The only method of travel between the Arcadian islands is via airship. These resemble regular seafaring vessels with wings of some sort usually attached. Using moonstone power to hover, they can travel the long distances required of them at high speeds. Therefore, the center of all Arcadian life and culture revolves around the "sea" -- that is, the sky. For the most part, technology hasn't surpassed that found in the 1500's and 1600's here on earth, but in one land, Valua, where electricity has been discovered, there exists some radical exceptions.

Valua knows their immense power all too well, and they are exploiting it.

They plan to make the world their own.

Only one faction of people dares to resist it. They are known as the Air Pirates.


	2. The Girl With Strange Clothes

Vyse closed his eyes and grinned broadly as he let the wind whip through his hair. It was a bit on the chilly side, but nothing the seventeen-year-old rogue wasn't used to. Nighttime raids were rare. He loved the thrill of adventuring out in the dark.

It was about two hours before the sun was due to rise. One of his father's nighttime lookouts had spotted a white and gold vessel -- a Valuan flagship, he swore -- tearing off alone at high speed in the direction of Cape Claudia. It was rare to see any Valuans in the Mid Ocean area, let alone a Valuan flagship all by itself. His father, being the seasoned pirate captain that he was, recognized this big, beautiful opportunity that was presenting itself to him. He had awoken his men with the order, "Let's milk 'em for all they're worth."

His father, Victor Dyne, loved adventure. But Vyse loved it even more. He craved it. There was a certain addiction in him, to feeling the adrenaline flow through his veins. He loved pushing his limits, challenging himself, and sometimes just doing crazy things. He supposed that, being son of the captain and therefore heir to the pirate clan, something like that would be expected of him. His father was no small-time pirate, either. He was the second most infamous Blue Rogue of that time, and had a rather sizable bounty on his head. Valua hated him, the man they knew as Dyne of the Blue Storm.

Vyse was the spitting image of his father, if not a little scruffier. Tall, limber and lanky, he wasn't quite ready to recover from his pubescent years yet, as he had limbs sticking out all over the place. He was skinny, lending to the appearance of him being mostly arms and legs. His form would have surely looked wiry if he didn't bear the taught musculature of a sailor. Calloused hands, deft movements and a light tan were all resemblant of his days out on the sea. His hair was thick and unruly, a shaggy mop of dark brown that tumbled down around his face to his collar, brushing it lightly. From beneath a spread of bangs and thick, prominent eyebrows, a pair of amber eyes observed the world with the gleam of youth and adventure, peering down over a straight nose and pale, thin lips. Marring his left cheek in a small half-circle beneath his eye was a faded battlescar.

He was wearing a black bodysuit, made of a stretchy fabric that loosely clung to his frame and showed off his musculature quite nicely. Though somewhat turtle-necked, it was completely sleeveless. Buttoned over this with 8 large, rectangular brass buttons was a solid blue tunic, made to fit him just right and belted jauntily around his trim waist with a large, double-holed belt. The sleeves were cut off short just past his shoulders, leaving a 3-inch gap to show part of his arms before the rest of the sleeve continued, buckled on to the tunic. A large pair of sturdy brown sailor's boots went up to his calves, and a red scarf was tied loosely around his neck to accent the ensemble. The most interesting piece of his outfit was the single-lensed goggle he had strapped over his right eye -- a glass eye patch.

It was through this goggle he peered as a ship appeared in the distance. From his vantage point in the crow's nest, he focused it as one might focus a telescope, and zoomed in on the target. Indeed, it was a Valuan-made ship, a sleek iron vessel reinforced with yellow moonstone alloy. Just as the lookout had described, it was white and gold and had an elongated bow. On the stern, he could just make out the words in calligraphic writing, _Cygnus_.

"Prepare for boarding! Gather the grappling hooks!" a gruff voice ordered below. Vyse peered over the railing to see the deck alive with activity, as various men -- and one woman -- rushed about gathering weapons and rope. His father stood in the doorway of the cabin, thick arms folded across his broad chest as he barked out orders to his crew.

"Briggs, increase speed!"

"Aye aye, Captain!"

_This is it. It's about to start_, he thought excitedly, checking his own weapons at his side. They were a pair of cutlasses forged from blue moonstone, which his father had given him on his first raiding mission. Vyse had developed a double-cutlass style of fighting all his own that was quite formidable in battle -- hence he was always the first to board a ship.

The _Cygnus_ had slowed and was preparing to turn around when their ship, the _Albatross_, pulled up alongside it. Briggs swung it in close so that the starboard wings scraped lightly against the side, and Vyse heard the distinct clattering of grappling hooks latching on to the deck of the enemy vessel. Taking his cue, he grabbed his own grappling hook, latched it on to the crow's nest, and boldly leapt off.

The rope broke his fall and swung him forward, easily allowing him to cross the ten-foot gap that separated the two ships. He slid off to a neat landing on the polished steel deck and quickly drew his cutlasses, just in time to come face-to-face with five armed Valuan guards. Their swords were drawn and held at the ready.

"Ah! A welcoming party!" he taunted.

"Air pirate scum!" one of the soldiers shouted, in thickly accented Valuan. Vyse had raided so many Valuan ships that he knew the language by heart. "Do you realize you're attacking an armed vessel of the Valuan Imperial Armada?"

"Of course I know that. You guys have the best stuff," he nonchalantly replied.

That only seemed to irritate the soldier farther. "Attacking us all by yourself? You're either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. We'll be tossing you overboard."

"No, I don't think so," a loud, strong female voice replied. A moment later, somebody dropped down next to him.

She was a powerful-looking young woman, long-legged and agile, muscular and yet still managing to be both busty and curvaceous. Her skin was tanned, her thick hair a fiery red that was pulled back into two braids while leaving her heavy bangs to fall into her face over a pair of dark brown eyes. Her nose was pert, her chin delicate, and she would have almost looked snotty were it not for her tomboyish appearance. All she wore at the moment was a tight leather tunic-dress of sorts that clung to her body to show off its attributes, cast in a bright yellow. It was dangerously short, thus she wore a pair of brown shorts beneath it. A choker with a large pendant dangled from around her neck, and she wore a pair of goggles atop her head, for looks more than anything else. In her left hand she clutched a large boomerang forged from green moonstone.

"Vyse, you left without me again," she whined. "Whatever happened to 'ladies first'?"

Vyse grinned. "I'm sorry, Aika. I forgot you were a girl!"

She gave him a flat look.

The Valuan soldiers were not amused. "Idiots. What do the two of you think you can possibly do to the five of us?"

A shot suddenly rang out in the darkness. Sparks flew as a bullet found its mark and pierced through the thin armor of one of the guards. He crumpled into a messy heap, dark liquids leaking out of his helmet in the dim light.

"That's funny," a familiar voice said, "I only see four of you."

Vyse whirled around. His father was there behind him with the rest of the raiding crew, pistol aimed at the next Valuan guard's head.

"Dad!"

"Vyse, go to the bridge and capture the captain," he ordered. "Take Aika with you. We'll get rid of the soldiers on board. And one more thing: when we're out here, it's not 'dad'...it's 'captain'. Got it?"

Vyse smirked. "Right...aye aye, 'captain'. Heh...Aika, should we go introduce ourselves to the captain of this ship?"

The redhead grinned. "I'm right behind you."

"Let's go!"

Vyse turned and headed through the door off the main deck that led into the ship's cabin. While he had never seen the _Cygnus_ before, he knew all Valuan ships had the same kind of basic layout and had a pretty good idea of where the bridge was. Aika crept stealthily behind him, a mischievous smirk on her face. She lived for this kind of thing almost as much as Vyse did.

Vyse and Aika had been friends since they were seven. Aika was the daughter of his father's former vice-captain, Eric Nakal, who, along with his wife, had been killed on a rescue mission aboard the Valuan flagship, _Aquila_. Feeling guilty and responsible for the death of his best friend, Dyne had taken Aika in and raised her with Vyse. Initially the two had fought horribly, as neither had siblings, and neither was willing to share space with the other. Vyse was still in his 'girls are icky' stage and Aika was much too aggressive for his liking. But the two soon found out they were a pair of kindred spirits and quickly developed a lasting friendship. Since that time they had been a dynamic duo, banding together to steal cookies from the village houses, and later to loot Armada vessels when they had come of age.

Vyse rounded a corner and jogged up some stairs, his heavy boots clanking against them softly along the way. Sure enough, the landing on the next floor gave way to an ornate door marked "bridge" in Valuan, and he stopped just outside it, holding his cutlasses at the ready.

"Aika, I want you to open the door so I can go in first," he whispered, eyes dancing. "If there's any resistance, I'll fend them off so you can come in without a problem. We'll get the captain to order a surrender and it'll be smooth sailing from there."

"I know the routine," she replied with a grin, poking him in the ribs softly. "Get ready."

Vyse stepped back to allow her room to open the door. He tensed the muscles in his legs and crouched low, then sprung through the door as soon as Aika thrust it open. He rolled over the ground and back to his feet, brandishing his swords commandingly, but he was shocked to find the bridge empty.

"What the hell?"

"Aww, man!" Aika tromped through, incredulous. "They deserted! They're trying to escape!"

Vyse frowned, looking around the bridge. It was rather small, with a raised platform for the captain to stand on, behind which hung two banners reading "_Viva la Valua_" and the picture of the Valuan crest between them. The control consoles, with seats for two separate officers before them, hummed softly and blinked with all sorts of different colored lights. They sat right in front of the windows, through which Vyse could see his dad and the rest of the crew fighting and capturing soldiers down below. To his left, on the other side of the captain's chair, a door had been hastily left open, likely where the officers had made their retreat.

He looked at Aika and jerked his head towards it. "Let's hurry. It'll take them a few minutes to prepare the lifeboats. Now's our chance to catch them."

She nodded in response, and followed him down the narrow stairwell. The passage obviously wasn't used that often, for they had clearly come up through the main deck, so Vyse figured the stairs would lead them right down into the hull where the lifeboats were stored.

He had guessed wrong. They were in the hull, but instead were on the bottom floor of one of the cannon rooms. He looked around, realizing it was deserted as well, and frowned even more deeply. A flight of stairs on the other end of the expansive room lead up to a different landing, while a separate pair lead lower into the hull. He heard some shuffling above him and decided that up was where he needed to go.

With Aika in tow, he dashed up the stairwell and found himself staring into the face of a young man who couldn't have been much older than he was. The man was almost beautiful, with decidedly delicate, almost feminine features: a pert nose, rosy lips, and large blue eyes. His hair was a straw gold and slicked back, a large portion separated and left to curl over in front of his face. He was short and skinny, clad in tight black admiral's pants and a heavy white jacket trimmed in gold. The shoulders were padded and adorned with tassels, and draped from his back was a white velvet cape. From his left breastpocket dangled the decorative medals of a Valuan Admiral.

Behind him was an officer clad in silver armor. Draped over his shoulder was a tiny bundle of white. Vyse tried to get a better look at it.

The pretty man scowled and took a few steps back, until he was pressed against the railing of the catwalk. He looked Vyse over in disgust and flicked a tendril of hair out of his face.

"So...Air pirates have decided to...infest my ship..." he said with a noble accent. He sounded just as feminine as he looked.

"Are you the captain of this vessel?" Vyse demanded, taking a step towards him.

The young man brushed his hair back again and stared at him haughtily. "I am Admiral Alfonso, commander of the first fleet of the Imperial Armada, cherished son of Valua's most distinguished family, and cousin to Prince Enrique Valdez. Normally lowlifes such as you wouldn't have the privilege of meeting me. Consider yourselves fortunate."

Vyse wasn't listening. His gaze had wandered again and he realized that the bundle Alfonso's officer was holding was an unconscious human -- a girl!

"Yeah...right..." he replied, distractedly. "Who's the girl? I never thought someone of your...stature...would stoop to kidnapping."

Alfonso smirked. "Heh...you're very observant for a rogue. But this girl is none of your business. I'm very busy now, so if you'll excuse me, I need to take my leave. I'll have you exterminated like the pests you are..."

He snapped his fingers. Four armed guards appeared from behind him and filled the space separating Vyse from Alfonso. The Admiral smirked, turned around with a swish of his cape, and left through a door in the back, his officer following with the girl in hand.

Vyse didn't have enough time to so much as call out a taunt to the admiral before the first of the guards was upon him. He swung his sword and Vyse raised the cutlass in his off-hand to meet it, blocking it perpendicularly. Moonstone clashed against steel loudly and vibrated down his arm and spine, into the depths of his body. Acting fast, he swung the other, larger cutlass in his right hand in a horizontal arc and cut through the hardened leather protecting the officer's stomach. He crumpled at the rogue's feet and fell off the catwalk.

The guard adjacent to him lunged, and Vyse knew he wouldn't be able to turn around in time. A flicker of green, accompanied by the sound of something cutting the air, signified that the Valuan had been Aika's target. His neck, left unprotected by the back of his helmet, cracked audibly as her boomerang hit it and went flying back to her. He, too, fell over the side of the catwalk.

The remaining two guards stormed Aika and she backpedaled quickly, absently spinning her weapon on her fingertips. Vyse realized she was not looking at the two, but rather _through_ them, and it became apparent what she was attempting to do. Trying to buy her more time, Vyse sprung at the guards and swept his leg across the floor, knocking their feet out from beneath them. One of them grabbed his ankle before he could recover and dragged him down as well, and the three struggled to wrestle the blades out of their opponents' hands. Vyse managed to disarm one of the guards but lost a cutlass in the process; the unarmed guard then tried to pin him while the other stabbed. Things were looking decidedly not in his favor until Aika called out something he could not understand and the two suddenly lit on fire. With screams of agony they let go of Vyse and began to swat at their clothing, but they knew as well as Vyse did that metal did not simply _burn_; these flames, Aika's handiwork, would not go out.

"_Bruja_!" they cried, as they rolled off the catwalk and fell. "_BRUJA!_"

"Heehee. I love it when they call me a witch." Aika paused to catch her breath, looking a little dazed. "You'd think for such an advanced empire, more of them would know magic."

"Nasr studies magic more than Valua. They're too good for that." Vyse grinned a little. "You okay?"

"Yeah, it just took a bit out of me. I need to practice more." She shook herself out and stood. "C'mon, we need to keep moving."

Alfonso had left the door open, but the door in the next room was locked. Vyse scowled and looked for a lock to pick, but it apparently was sealed from the other side. Luckily, there was a side door that served as an emergency exit off to his right. He decided to go there instead.

The door led back outside, where he found the sun was beginning to rise in the form of a red streak on the eastern horizon. Finding a ladder at his feet, he carefully slid down it to the next level, where another emergency hatch was. He kicked the door open and helped Aika inside, and the two raced down the long hallway, following the signs that read, in Valuan, "To lifeboats". The hallway took a jog right, towards the aft of the ship, and suddenly opened up into a wide hangar full of double-engine life craft. Vyse held up his hand to signal Aika to stay put and be quiet.

The girl was lying close by, about ten feet away from them. Against the far wall, the officer who had been carrying her was at a console. He pulled a lever, and the hangar door slowly began to open. Alfonso stood just behind him, looking on.

"Aika...get the girl..." Vyse whispered to his partner, eyes locked on the young admiral. "Take care of her if she's hurt. The officer seems unarmed...I can take the both of them. I somehow doubt Alfonso's any good with that saber he has..."

Aika covered her mouth with one hand to muffle her snicker. "Apparently. He can't pick up women normally, so he has to kidnap them."

Vyse groaned at the innuendo.

"Admiral Alfonso..." The officer had turned to look out at the sky, beginning to swell with the pinks and oranges of the rising sun. "The preparations for your departure are complete. It is safe for you to escape now."

"Very good..." Alfonso purred, quietly drawing his sword from his side. "I've finished my preparations as well...preparations to dispose of a traitor."

The officer whirled around in time to find the sword pointed at his throat. He jerked and stumbled back, raising his hands in defense.

"A-admiral! What are you doing?!"

Alfonso snorted. "I can't tell the Empress I lost my flagship to a bunch of air pirates in a fair fight. To keep my glorious reputation from being tarnished, I'm going to need a scapegoat, and you'll do quite nicely. I'm going to tell her you betrayed me and let the pirates on board, and had to dispose of you myself."

"N-no!" the officer pleaded, hastily backing up as Alfonso began to step forward. "Please, Admiral! You must reconsider!"

"I said I want you to die!" Alfonso snapped, sounding much like a spoiled child more than a commanding officer. "Jump out of this ship! Now!"

The officer continued to refuse. Alfonso lashed out at him and they struggled, and Vyse began to run to his aid, but he was too late. Alfonso stabbed the defenseless officer and sent him crumpling to his knees. The unforgiving admiral kicked him overboard, and he screamed as he plummeted into the clouds below.

Alfonso laughed delightedly, until he found the point of a cutlass in his back.

"Turn around and face me, Alfonso!" Vyse said, through clenched teeth. "After watching you kill an unarmed man in cold blood, I can't allow you to walk away from this."

Alfonso looked back over his shoulder and scowled. "An uncivilized rogue such as yourself wishes to challenge me? Peh. I don't deal with filth like you personally."

"Are you afraid of losing?" Vyse jeered.

"No..." Alfonso said, flatly. "I just don't want to get any disease that might be on you." He stumbled forward, and whirled around, taking on a defensive posture. "Antonio! Antonio, come!"

"Antonio?" Vyse blinked and looked back at Aika, who looked equally as clueless. She was crouched down next to the girl and carefully examining her.

A long silence passed. Vyse looked back at Alfonso, but the admiral was completely smug. Exasperated, Vyse brandished his swords and moved forward to confront him again, but suddenly the steel deck began to shudder softly. He turned in the direction it was coming from, in time to see a second pair of doors in the room burst from their hinges. They went flying off in opposite directions, revealing an enormous beast on the other side.

It was a Valuan Charger bull. It easily stood eight feet at the shoulder, with dense, heavy musculature that rippled from beneath tight brown hide plated in customized armor. Two massive ivory horns, each easily five feet long, protruded from its broad shoulders and ran parallel to each other. He snorted, shook his head, and tromped out of the doorway.

"W-what is this?!" Vyse stammered.

"This," Alfonso said, proudly, "Is my personal war beast. I was going to leave him here, but it seems I've found a use for him after all."

"War beast...?" Aika asked, coming up alongside Vyse. She had dragged the girl aside to a safe corner for the moment, and now was poised to fight.

"Antonio, squish these pests!" Alfonso commanded. "And make their deaths as painful as possible!"

The bull snorted, reared, and then turned his cold black eyes on Vyse.

Vyse knew what was coming. He dove and knocked Aika aside and out of the way as the giant creature charged, barely missing the both of them. Antonio skidded to a halt, turned, and charged again, and once more the two had to roll out of the way, to different sides. It barely managed to avoid hitting a wall.

"Moons, give me strength!" Aika cried as she stood and concentrated her energy. A hand swept out towards the creature and a moment later he was surrounded in flames. To her shock -- and Vyse's, as well -- Antonio walked right out of the wall of fire and came after them again. He heard Alfonso howling with laughter.

"Dammit! He's protected by that armor!" Vyse cursed as he skidded out of the way. Aika tripped and rolled alongside him, crashing into one of the lifeboats. "Nothing's gonna affect him...!"

"Vyse, can't we do anything?" she panted, beginning to run again. "You're a better fighter than me..."

"No, I couldn't even scratch that thing," he replied, glancing back over his shoulder. The bull had stopped and lowered its head. Its horns were beginning to crackle with electricity. "Oh, crap. Aika, duck!"

Aika was quick. She dropped to the floor like a rock, covering her head with her hands. Vyse wasn't fast enough, though, and as the bull released the flow of electricity, he was caught by it and sent flying. He hit the wall behind him and tumbled into one of the lifeboats with a cry, his cutlasses skittering across the floor. He was too stunned to even hear Aika cry his name.

Valua sat beneath the yellow moon, which, according to the beliefs of the Arcadian people, was the source of all electricity. Centuries of exposure to yellow moonstones had granted all creatures native to Valua the ability to channel electricity, and Chargers were no different. A direct hit would have likely killed Vyse, but for now he laid there, frozen and twitching, trying to regain his senses. His vision was dark, his body throbbed painfully and his heart threatened to burst from his chest.

Then his vision and his mind filled with green light. He felt his body fill with a warm tingling and realized Aika was using another one of her spells to heal him. Relaxing, he allowed the comforting green energy to fill his entire body, but it was cut off short as Aika was attacked. He heard her cry out and stumble into something.

Vyse was healed enough to be able to jump to his feet. He felt himself sway a little, but he steadied himself and ran for the bull, who was harassing Aika as she hid in a lifeboat. As the giant beast leaned forward to ramrod the side of the small vessel, he gasped as he realized that its armor wasn't covering its back -- an opening!

Recklessly, Vyse snatched up one of his swords and charged the creature, springing on to its hindquarters as it hunkered down again. It bellowed furiously and whirled around, but he hung on tight and crept forward, bracing his feet against the plates in the armor. Forgetting Aika for the moment, it dashed forward and began to violently buck, trying to dislodge the rogue. He clung to the burly creature's sides for dear life with his legs, carefully climbing up into a sitting position. The irritated creature continued to jolt and whirl, threatening to send him flying.

It took Vyse a while, but he finally was able to get far enough up onto the animal's back to reach the gap in the armor. Taking a moment to steady himself, he raised his cutlass high above his head, gathered every last bit of strength he had, and then plunged the azure blade downwards with all his might. The curved blade, with some trouble, punctured the Charger's rough hide and sank down, coming into contact with the back of its ribcage. It roared and reared back, and Vyse had to cling to his sword to keep from falling off, but the blade was stuck and not going anywhere. When Antonio had at last returned to his feet, he hefted downward on the sword again and it sank in deeper, puncturing, he was sure, the creature's heart.

With a final loud bellow, the Charger collapsed to the ground, dislodging Vyse in the process. Aika ran over to him with his other sword in hand, eyes full of concern, but the only harm on the rogue was the blood of the fallen animal staining his clothes. He took the blade after a moment and stared over at Antonio, but it was clear that the beast was either dead or dying. It wasn't going to move.

"Bah!" Alfonso, who had climbed into a lifeboat and started it up, looked a little pale. "It seems you're stronger than you look. Fine. If you want my ship that badly, take it. I can get another one. So long as I'm not exposed to your filth any longer."

"Where do you think you're going?!" Vyse demanded. He scrambled to his feet, but Alfonso was already one step ahead of him. Cackling triumphantly, the admiral pulled off in the lifeboat and soared away into the rising sun, soon disappearing from sight. It was all Vyse and Aika could do to stand there on the edge of the hangar and watch him get away.

"Damn him!" Vyse swore. "What kind of a coward sacrifices his own men and his own ship just to run away from battle?!"

Aika smirked and elbowed him playfully. "Well, even though he's a coward, he's a coward with gold. We haven't had a catch this big in a long time. The people at home will be impressed!"

"Heh..." Vyse offered her a small smile, but only shook his head, turning and heading back into the hangar. He walked over to Antonio and pulled his sword out from the beast, untying the scarf from around his neck in order to clean it off. When at last he was satisfied, he sheathed both swords and then turned, searching for the girl whom Aika had saved. He saw her in the corner and strode over to her, crouching down by her side.

Now that she was lying on her back, he could see her features perfectly. She was a slender, petite figure who looked both delicate and tiny, especially compared to him. Small as she was, she still had curves, her features subtle and delicate, her skin fair and milky. Her hair, kept shoulder-length, was thin and soft, a near white platinum blond that was separated into two locks at the front to frame her face. Three brown tattoos, two on her bare shoulders and one on her forehead, stood out against her fair complexion.

She wore a pure white dress that was form-fitting and trimmed in gold. It was sleeveless and backless, clasping around her neck with a golden choker of sorts that was decorated in strange circuit-like patterns, the likes of which could be found hemming the outfit as well. A small, triangular piece had been cut out from the front over her chest, but it was modest and didn't exactly show off anything. Beneath the long skirt of the dress, which had slits up both sides going to her waist, she wore a tight pair of white leggings that were tucked into a set of ankle-high white leather boots. The sleeves of the dress were detached, only covering three-quarters of her arms, and were held up by armbands of pure silver. A matching bracelet clung to her wrist, and two large, triangular turquoise earrings dangled from her ears. Completing the ensemble was a translucent white veil that went down to the middle of her back, held around her head by a golden headband. She looked almost like a young bride.

"Isn't she weird?" Aika asked, coming up alongside him. "I've never seen anybody wearing clothes like that before. The fabric's really odd, too. I don't know what it is. It's obvious she's not Valuan...so I wonder where she's from?"

Vyse frowned softly to himself, lightly tracing a finger over one of the bruises marring the girl's skin. "She's a little beat up. I wonder why Valua was trying to capture her in the first place? She doesn't look any older than us..."

"What should we do?" Aika asked.

Vyse shook his head, then leaned forward and carefully slid his arms beneath the girl's shoulders and legs. He took a moment to gather her up against him, then stood, resting her head against his chest. "We should take her back with us," he replied. "She's obviously in trouble, or at least she was...it's a Blue Rogue's duty to help a person in need. We can get Erinn to heal whatever wounds she might have, and then we can help her to get back home safely...wherever that is."

Aika nodded. "That's a good idea. Let's get her back upstairs and see if Cap'n Dyne's rounded up everyone by now. It's about time we headed back home."

* * *

"How's she doing?" Aika asked in a soft tone -- something very unusual for her -- as she slipped through the door.

Vyse looked up from the stool he was sitting on. After the girl had been taken aboard the ship, she was brought down into the infirmary and placed in a bed. Vyse had remained at her side, monitoring her condition closely, while Aika had gone off to steal a glimpse at the loot they had captured. The girl hadn't moved since Aika had left, though, and she still continued to slumber quietly.

"Well, her breathing's definitely more normal now," he replied, as she sat down across from him. "I'm not sure how long she's been knocked out, but I don't think she's got anything more than superficial injuries."

"Just remember, we can't sit here forever..." she reminded him, frowning a bit. "It's almost our shift up on deck. You know how your dad gets when we're late...or when he _thinks_ we're late..."

Vyse wasn't listening. His eyes were on the girl's face. Her features twitched softly, and then, slowly, she opened her eyes. He found himself staring down into two large, deep pools of aquatic green.

Aika gasped, and smiled. "Hey, look!"

The girl blinked a couple times, then shrunk away from the both of them, sitting up in her bed and clutching the sheets to her chest. Her eyes, now even wider with fear, studied the two of them incredulously.

"Hi!" Aika abruptly chirped, completely oblivious to the girl's unease. "How are you feeling? Are you doing okay? Do you need some water or something?"

"I...n-no...thank you...I-I'm fine..." the girl stuttered, shyly. Her voice was very soft, with a whispery kind of lilt to it. "Uhm...w...where am I...?"

"You're aboard our pirate ship, the _Albatross_," Vyse replied, with a smile. "There aren't any Valuan troops around, so you don't have to worry about anything."

"Oh...yes...thank you..." She looked lost and confused.

"My name's Aika," Aika said, extending a hand to her. "What's yours?"

The girl stared at her hand, now looking even more puzzled. "My name...my name is Fina."

"Fina, huh?" Vyse smiled as he leaned forward. "That's a nice name. It's so...so feminine."

Fina blinked. "Really? You think so?"

Vyse deflated a bit. "Geez...you try to compliment someone...and nothing. No reaction whatsoever."

Aika burst out laughing. "Vyse, that wasn't much of a compliment! You have a lot to learn about women!"

Even Fina giggled to that, lifting a dainty hand to her mouth to hide it. Nevertheless, she seemed to relax a lot more. "Uhm...excuse me. I have a question. What exactly is a...a pirate?"

That hit Vyse like a pound of bricks. He blinked incredulously and exchanged glances with Aika.

"What?" she asked, shocked. "You were out traveling all by yourself and you don't know what an air pirate is?"

Fina blushed and cast her gaze down. "I-I'm sorry. This is my first time away from home and..."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Vyse said, reassuringly. He gave Aika a look.

Aika shot him a guilty grin, then turned back to address Fina. "The air pirates are a group of people who sail the skies searching for treasure and adventure," she explained. "Basically air pirates are divided into two factions: the Blue Rogues and the Black Pirates. Black Pirates are a band of nasty sailors who attack any ship they see...usually unarmed craft and merchant vessels."

Fina gasped and stared at them in fear. "Attack?!"

Vyse only chuckled and gave her another reassuring smile. "You don't need to worry about us. We're Blue Rogues. We only attack armed vessels and steal their goods -- usually those belonging to the Valuan Armada." He grinned and thumped his chest with a fist. "We keep all the gold we can get our hands on, but we use it to help people in need. We're always out there to lend people a helping hand -- it's what we live for!"

"That's why we rescued you," Aika added, in firm conclusion.

"Oh...uhm...thank you..." Fina bowed her head slightly to Aika in acknowledgment, and Aika took her turn to look confused.

An awkward silence passed between the two girls. Vyse rubbed at the back of his neck and then finally looked to Aika. "Hey...do you think we should let Dad know she's awake now?" he asked.

"If we can tear him away from the bridge, yeah." Aika rolled her eyes.

"Heh, alright." Vyse smirked, then stood, pausing to look down at Fina. "We're gonna go let my dad know that you're okay. He's the Captain of our clan, so he'll want to meet you."

"O-okay..." she replied, softly, clasping her hands over her chest. "Uhm...what...what's a captain?"

Aika sighed softly.

"He's our leader," Vyse replied with a patient smile, shooting Aika another look. He nodded to Fina, then turned and went out the infirmary door. Aika followed behind him quickly.

"What's your problem?" he asked her as they rounded the corner and began their trek down the narrow hallway. "Why do you seem so irritated with her?"

"It's not that." Aika blinked. "She just...is she serious? Does she honestly not know any of that stuff? I mean, even the people living in the remotest corner of Nasr know what an Air Pirate is..."

"Well...maybe she's from beyond the remotest corner of Nasr..." Vyse replied, thoughtfully. "Nobody's seen the entire world yet. Maybe she comes from a country nobody's heard of. On the other hand, she could just have amnesia after being knocked out like that..."

"She seems to remember her name," Aika pointed out.

"Mm...true..."

They passed a few more doors, wove their way around a cluster of barrels, and pushed past some of the crew hanging around below deck. Many of the older men teasingly asked him how "the girl" was doing, but he ignored them and continued on, Aika calling retorts back to them as he went. At last they reached the ladder leading up onto the bridge, and he scaled it with ease, finding himself in a spacious cabin lined with a plush blue carpet and adorned with the emblems of the various Blue Rogue clans they were allied with. The room was very light and airy, composed mostly of big bay windows that allowed them a panorama view of their ship and the skies around them. The floor and tables were littered with maps and navigational charts, and the front of the cabin overlooking the deck was crowded with the equipment necessary to operate the ship. The short, squat form of the navigator, Doug Landis, was hovering over the compass, while the long, sinewy body of his father's vice captain, Daniel Briggs, stood stiffly at the helm. Dyne was a little behind them, thick arms folded across his chest as he gazed out at the skies.

His father wasn't necessarily the largest of men, but he was quite tall and pretty thoroughly built. While in his mid-forties now, he still had a sturdy build and the lanky limbs his son had inherited, his shoulders square, his legs long, his structure solid. His facial features were a bit on the rugged side, a pair of narrow, scrutinizing dark eyes peering out from a sort of rounded face from which a prominent nose and two large-ish ears protruded noticeably. His sienna hair, now streaked with highlights of silver, was forever combed back in one textured sweep, and bristling over his slim lips in a short, neatly-trimmed comb was a mustache of the same color. He was every inch the seasoned Blue Rogue captain, with rough, calloused, slightly-tanned skin and a face beginning to get weathered from years of battling the wind. He wore a fairly loose pair of black trousers that disappeared into matching calf-high boots, but tucked into them was a navy blue shirt that was tight enough to hug him like a second pair of skin. He had buckled over that a sky-blue vest with the call sign of the Blue Storm on the back and his arms were covered in thick, fingerless leather gauntlets. Forever buckled around his trim waist was his trusty "six-star" musket in a plain leather sheath.

"Hey, Dad..." Vyse said as he came up behind the man.

Dyne didn't turn around. "You're late for your shift, Vyse. You know the routine. Swab the decks...and they'd better be clean."

Startled, Vyse blinked and exchanged glances with Aika. He hadn't been expecting that response. "B-but Dad! I'm only a little late!" he protested.

"On a ship, being even a little late can cost lives," Dyne replied. "And one more thing. When we're on board it's 'captain' -- not 'dad'. Got it?"

Vyse sighed, already feeling defeated. "Yeah yeah, I got it."

Dyne finally turned around with that, and offered his son a tiny smile. "You didn't come up here to report for duty, did you?" he asked.

Vyse smirked a bit. "Heh...how did you know?"

"This time you were only a _little_ late," came the reply. There was mirth in the captain's dark eyes. "What did you want to talk to me about, son? It's about the girl, isn't it?"

"Fina," he corrected, with a smile. "Her name's Fina."

Dyne blinked. "She's awake?"

"She is." Vyse nodded. "She's doing fine and she doesn't seem to be hurting anywhere. But...well..." He looked over to Aika.

"She doesn't really seem to know anything..." Aika filled in for him. "She didn't know what an Air Pirate was..."

Dyne looked puzzled. "Is she serious? What kind of a country is she from?"

"We, uhm...didn't ask," Vyse replied. "I didn't think it would be right to just throw questions at her right after she regained consciousness, y'know?"

"She's really shy," Aika added. "And her accent's weird. It's definitely not Valuan, but it's not Nasrean, either."

"Hmm...well..." Dyne stroked his chin in his customary manner of thinking. "I think I'll go down and have a talk with her then. You might as well come along, Vyse."

Vyse blinked. "But why? You just said you wanted me to--"

"I'll let you off it, for now." Dyne dismissed the notion by waving his free hand. "If the girl told you her name, she obviously trusts you. It might be a good idea to keep you around so she feels comfortable."

Without waiting for a response, Dyne then turned and descended the ladder back into the hull of the ship. Vyse and Aika followed, silently keeping behind him as he wove his way towards the infirmary. When he opened the door, Vyse heard Fina gasp softly, and he entered the doorway just in time to see her hasten to her feet, however wobbly, and attempt a bow to his father. She lost her balance and ended up falling back onto the bed.

"Are you alright?" the captain asked her.

"Y-yes...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to disrespect you..." she replied, looking horribly embarrassed.

Dyne blinked, glanced back at Vyse, and then ambled over to a table near Fina's bedside. It was here that he sat, leaning back on his palms. "You weren't being disrespectful at all, young lady. Just because I'm captain of this ship doesn't mean I expect people to bow to me..."

"I-impossible..." she protested, softly. "You are the leader here. It would be rude of me not to bow to you."

"Is that a social rule where you come from?" he asked, quirking a thick brow.

Fina bowed her head. "Y-yes, it is..."

"I see..." Dyne gestured for Vyse and Aika to sit down, and they obeyed, pulling up stools adjacent to the bed. "My son tells me your name is Fina?"

"Yes, sir..." she replied, quietly. "Fina Selvarn."

"I see." Dyne smiled. "My name is Victor Dyne...you've already met my son, Vyse, and his best friend, Aika Nakal. We are a part of the Blue Rogue clan known as the Blue Storm. Have you heard of us before?"

"N-no, sir..." she replied, quietly. "I...didn't even know about air pirates until now..."

Dyne glanced to Vyse, who only shrugged, giving his father an 'I told you so' expression.

"I see. Which country are you from, then?" Dyne finally asked.

Fina fell silent and stared down at her hands. "I...I cannot say..." she replied, after many long moments.

Again, one of Dyne's thick eyebrows arched. "Why not? Do you not trust us because we're air pirates?"

"No!" Fina was quick to protest, and for the first time she actually looked up at him, enigmatic eyes wide. "Please, please believe me, it's not that! I am very grateful that you have saved my life. You just...please, you must understand...I've been given orders that I must tell nobody where I'm from, nor about the purpose of my quest."

"Quest?" Dyne looked surprised, both of his eyebrows raising, but then he broke into a chuckle. "Heh...well, looks like I lost this one. Very well, Fina, I will take you for your word. You don't have to tell me where you're from."

Fina smiled. Vyse found it contagious and started to grin. "Thank you very much for understanding..." she said, with the utmost sincerity.

"Is there anything you _can_ tell us, Fina?" Dyne gently persisted. "How old are you? You seem awfully young to be out traveling by yourself...let alone to have Valuan admirals chasing you."

"Seventeen..." she replied, clasping and unclasping her hands nervously. "Is that bad?"

"Ah...Vyse's age. Seventeen for traveling alone? Not necessarily bad. But having admirals after you?" Dyne blinked.

"I-I'm sorry...I don't really know much about Valua..." Fina bowed her head. "I can speak their language, and I know the motives and history of their empire, but...I have no idea why they're chasing me. They...they shouldn't be able to tell that I'm here. There's no possible way that they could know, and yet somehow they found out where I was..."

"Do they know where your country is?" Vyse asked.

"Vyse! I'm asking the questions here." Dyne gave him a look.

Vyse grinned guiltily.

"Nobody knows where my homeland is..." Fina said, quietly. "And they couldn't reach it even if they tried."

Dyne opened his mouth to say something, but then the door opened and Briggs appeared in the doorway. "Captain, I hope I'm not interrupting..." he said.

"What is it?" Dyne asked. "Not more Valuans, I hope."

Briggs chuckled. "Hardly. I just came to let you know that we're about a league from home and are preparing to dock."

"Ah, excellent." Dyne stood. "Take the helm and get the mainsails folded up. Switch the engine settings so the _Albatross_ pulls in under her own power. It'll make her easier to control now that she's loaded down with all that Valuan loot. I'll prepare everyone here below deck to drop anchor and furl up the fins."

Briggs nodded. "Aye, Captain." With that, he turned and left, disappearing around the corner. Dyne followed, but stopped in the doorway to look back over his shoulder. "Vyse, take Fina up on deck so she can get some fresh air before we land. It'll do her some good, she still looks wobbly."

Vyse nodded, rising to his feet. "You betcha. I'll give her a tour of the island once we land, how about that?"

"Sure..." the captain distractedly replied as he disappeared out the door as well.

"Haha." Aika grinned. "Your dad always gets so caught up in his business."

Vyse grinned back and shrugged. "What can I say? This is what he lives for. He likes being important." He winked, then walked around the edge of the bed and offered Fina his hand. "Need some help up?" he asked with a smile.

Blushing softly, Fina slipped a tiny hand in his and he gently pulled her to her feet. He was amazed at how small and fragile she seemed when she stood; even with her boots on, she barely reached his shoulder. She peered up at him with a mix of shyness and genuine curiosity, her pale face filling even more with color, and even he too began to blush as he realized he was being studied.

He fumbled for some words, but nothing came. "Let's go topside!" he finally said, tugging at Fina's arm with haste. She was still mightily red, but now she looked confused as he began to pull her along with sudden urgency.

Vyse led her beneath the bridge and up through the cabin stairs to the main deck outside. Here the deckhands and other sailors were busy furling the sails and coiling up rope, securing everything for the ship's ensuing landing. In the distance he could see the distinct form of his home island, covered in thick green grass and tall, spindly trees, with wooden cabins scattered around the surface. A windmill towered above them all, and two docks branched off from the main island, one going up to a port for smaller ships, and the other, a ladder, straddling the gap that separated the mainland from the tiny lookout island far above it.

Excited, Vyse ran to the bow of the ship and climbed partway up one of the ropes securing the jib. He grinned and gazed off into the distance, pointing to the large, comma-shaped island that was his home.

"See, Fina? That's our base...Pirate Isle."

"Pirate Isle..." she echoed, clasping her hands over her chest as she studied the unfamiliar shape in the distance. "You live...outside?"

"No, we've got houses."

"Houses?"

Aika blinked and looked over at her. "Do you guys live underground or something?"

Fina giggled to that. "Far from it. Our homes float!"

"They do?" Aika's dark eyes widened. "You mean, like airships? They hover off the ground?"

"Far off the ground." Fina smiled. "You can see everything down below you for a very long ways. It's very lovely."

"Wow..." Aika gazed off at the clouds, a dreamy look filling her eyes. "That must be neat, living in a floating house. Fina, when you go back home, take me with you, okay?"

The three of them laughed at that.

"Okay, Aika," Fina replied with another smile.

At last the ship drew close to the island, and they could see activity down below as they rounded the coast towards a cove in the back. Fina leaned over the edge and smiled brightly as she caught sight of three children running around in the company of a little blue animal. A pair of women stood by the washbasin gossiping, and they, along with the children, looked up as the ship's shadow fell over the island. Doors opened in almost every house, and women came out, smiling as they looked up at the sky. The mostly male crew in turn gathered along the edge of the deck and called down to them, grinning and waving.

As the _Albatross_ finally came to a stop and turned in place in preparation to dock in the little cove, the assimilated crowd on the island's surface began to run down a ramp and seemed to disappear underground. At the same time, the _Albatross_ pulled forward and slowly slid into the cove, which was more or less a square hole cut into the mantle of the island. When at last it had nestled inside its manmade dock, a grinding noise resounded behind them, and the lip of the cove, which had actually been fashioned into a door, was slowly pulled closed by the force of two large chains.

Fina looked frightened. She clutched her hands tightly together over her chest and hovered near to Vyse. "What just happened? What's going on?"

"We're inside the island right now," he explained with a reassuring smile. He paused to let his eyes adjust to the much dimmer light, then continued. "See? Up on the surface is where we live...it just looks like an ordinary, peaceful village. But down here is our headquarters. We store all our ammunition, weapons, supplies, loot and just general pirate stuff here." He grinned. "We have to keep it all hidden so the Valuans don't find out...If they do, they'll blow up the island, more or less."

"Oh my..." Fina was aghast.

To the port side of the ship was a ramp that led down onto the first and largest layer of a three-tiered terrace. This first layer was swamped in crates, cannons, ropes and chests, but there was some order to the chaos, and most of it was distinctly labeled. Gigantic boxes of moonstone climbed the far wall, and adjacent to them were large kegs of gunpowder, painted red and black.

On the second tier above it there was a long row of doors, each one accompanied by a bright lantern burning on each side of it. Such lanterns were hung at regular intervals all around the port in order to offer it at least minimal illumination. Above the doors, in roughly the center of the tier, hung a flag identical to the one that the _Albatross_ flew: the winged skull and crossed cutlasses that were the call sign of the Blue Storm.

The third tier actually had some buildings on it. One was distinctly larger than the other, which resembled more of an office. Leading from both was a metal catwalk which stretched over the sea of boxes and barrels down below to a door embedded into the wall. It was this door that suddenly slid open and released a flood of excited people down into the docks.

The crew rushed off the ship to meet the oncoming crowd, each member carrying with them a treasure chest or armful of loot that had been stolen from the _Cygnus_. This only excited the crowd more, and the women threw their arms around their husbands and squealed with delight. Soon the gaping, cavernous port was filled with the din of excited talk, which echoed off every wall.

"Everyone's so energetic..." Fina observed, her soft voice nearly drowned out by the crowd.

"All of our families are very close-knit here," Aika replied, smiling. "Most of the crewmembers are married, so while they're out fighting, their wives are stuck here worrying about them. But it always turns out in the end." She winked.

"We also just came back with an extraordinary amount of treasure," Vyse added. "This means we'll be able to support ourselves a lot easier. Since most of our money goes towards helping others, we can't afford many luxuries. Sometimes getting by in everyday life is hard. But it's worth it!"

He looked out down below and saw a woman with dark brown hair pulled back by a blue handkerchief push her way through the crowd. She ran forward and flung her arms around Dyne's neck as he finally came off the ship.

"Lorena!" he said with a delighted laugh.

"Mama Dyne!" Aika laughed as well.

"That's my mom," Vyse explained to Fina, and she smiled. "Here, come on. I wanna introduce you to everyone."

"What?" Fina looked shocked, and once more her hands clasped together over her chest. "You want to introduce me...? To the entire island...?"

"Yeah!" He grinned, eyes dancing. "You're our special guest! C'mon!"

"But Vyse, I'm not anyone impor--" She was cut off as he took her by the hand and excitedly towed her along. Aika giggled and followed suit.

It didn't take long at all for Fina to attract attention, and not because Vyse was parading her around, either. She wasn't even off the ramp before the entire crowd fell silent and stepped back. All eyes hovered on her for a long moment, then fell on Dyne expectantly.

"Victor...who is this?" Vyse's mom asked, grasping the captain's arm.

"Did Vyse get married?" a young voice called from the crowd. A few people laughed.

"Everyone, quiet," Dyne ordered, raising a hand for emphasis. "While we were pursuing the armada flagship that was spotted earlier this morning, my son came across this girl. The captain of the ship, Admiral Alfonso Valdez, was attempting to kidnap her for some unknown reason...we figure that was why he was traveling so fast, all alone. In any case, Vyse rescued her and I have decided that, at least for the time being, she will stay here with us so she will be safe. Her name is Fina Selvarn and that is all you need to know."

"Fina? What an unusual name!"

"She's so pretty!"

"Why is she dressed like a bride?"

The crowd resumed its excited din. Vyse could only laugh.

Fina looked utterly confused. "D...did I do something bad?" she asked, seeming to shrink away behind him.

"Not at all." Vyse tried his best to be reassuring. "This just isn't exactly a normal, everyday occurrence for the people here. Of all the ships we've raided, we haven't come back with anyone before. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll like you."

"Do you think so...?" She peered up at him.

He laughed, but noticed the crowd was surging forward, all trying to speak with her at once. Dyne blocked their path and bade them to return to the surface, where Vyse, he assured them, would be taking her around to meet them one-on-one. That seemed to satisfy them, and they all turned and left with their husbands in toe. Only Vyse's mother stayed behind.

"Don't worry, Fina. They can be a rowdy bunch sometimes, but they mean well." She smiled to the unfamiliar girl, then offered her her hand. "I'm Lorena Dyne, Vyse's mother."

Fina stared at her hand in confusion, then hesitantly bowed. "I am very pleased to meet you. You all have shown me such hospitality so far...I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

"Oh my, you needn't be so polite!" Vyse's mother chuckled. "Think nothing of it. We Blue Rogues are always here to help people. Now, why don't you come topside with us and come into our house? You can stay with us. I'll get you all settled in and then Vyse and Aika can show you around the island, alright?"


	3. Wanted

Fina giggled delightedly as she stretched out her hand and a bright yellow flutterfly landed on it. She brought it close to her face to admire its beauty, and then it flittered away, floating on the gentle breeze. She watched it fly off, then twirled around happily, her skirts flowing around her and making her resemble one of the graceful insects as well. Finally she fell back into the grass and sighed happily, relaxing into its cool softness.

Vyse was sitting a little ways away beneath one of the ramps leading up to the docks, smiling warmly. He had been observing her from afar, but now he stood and sat down beside her, grinning.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself," he said.

"Oh yes, your island is very wonderful..." she said, wistfully. "All the plants are so beautiful, and the sun is so warm and nice. The breeze is refreshing...I feel like that little winged creature that was on my hand...just so carefree and happy. I feel like I can fly." She smiled, watching the clouds pass by overhead.

"I'm glad you like it here..." He leaned back a little, casting his own gaze on the wispy white clouds floating above them. "You know, you're welcome to stay as long as you want."

"Oh, but I couldn't burden you like that..." She looked over at him, clutching her hands over her chest. "You said that it is very hard to support this community, and I don't wish to add to that strain. And...I really shouldn't stay too long. I have a duty I must fulfill."

He chuckled. "It's really not a problem! Everybody here loves you, and one more mouth to feed isn't going to hurt us. We're used to this kinda stuff, remember? I promise we'll find you a way to get going again in the meantime, but it might take us a while. You said you lost your ship, right?"

"Yes, I did..." Her expression dropped a bit at that. "It sank below the clouds when that other ship shot at it. I...don't know what to do. We don't have very many ships, and we need each one we have. I can't go home without it..."

"I'm sure the people at your home will understand," he replied. "It's not something you could have helped. Like I said, we'll work something out."

"Yes...thank you..." She rewarded him with a soft smile, and he couldn't help but to smile in turn. "What country is this?" she asked, returning her enigmatic gaze to the sky. "I noticed we're still beneath the Silver Moon."

"Still?" He blinked. "Do you live under the Silver Moon, too?"

"...I can't say a word either way," she replied. "But I've been traveling in this area for a while. I don't know it very well."

"Oh, I see." He smiled. "Well, this entire area is called Mid Ocean. There's nothing here but a large cluster of a bunch of tiny islands...we have no real main continent, unlike Valua and Nasr. However, all the islands in Mid Ocean consider themselves as a part of the same country...we call it Meridia." He paused, thoughtfully. "Come to think of it...you're pretty fluent in Meridian. What's your home language?"

Fina blinked. "This _is_ my home language...I speak this all the time...My people have spoken it since the days of the Old World..."

"Wow..." Vyse was baffled. "You can't live that far from here, then."

"I live farther away than you can imagine..." she replied quietly, eyes affixed to the silvery white form of the moon in the skies. Vyse suddenly realized how much she resembled it, in all her soft, quiet nature and pale appearance.

"Your homeland really intrigues me..." he said, after a moment. "I wish you could tell me more about it..."

"You're really that interested...?" Fina looked surprised.

"Of course!" Vyse smiled with sincerity. "I'm curious about it. I'd love to go explore it someday. To tell you the truth, I've wanted to--"

"Pow! Pow pow!"

Vyse turned around at the familiar barking to see a small furry animal charging his direction. Rugged and cute in almost every way possible, he was a small doglike creature, only going up to the lower calves of a normal person with a back and tail that were curiously long. His legs by comparison were a bit short, allowing him to stay close to the ground. His coat was thick and shaggy, designed to ward off winds and rain, and came in two layers on his slender body. The upper layer was a tough, wiry sort of silver-blue, blanketing most of his back, head, tail and shoulders, while his face, paws and underside were all a soft, fluffy white.

As he neared, Fina shrieked and hid behind Vyse.

"Pow!" Vyse chided. "I told you not to bark at strangers, right?"

Pow stopped mid-run and whined, sticking his long tail between his legs.

"Oh...I'm sorry...h-he just startled me, that's all..." Fina said, slowly creeping out from behind Vyse. "He's actually quite cute. I guess on your island, you live with other animals."

"Uhm...yeah, I guess..." Vyse blinked and turned to look over at her. "You mean you don't where you live?"

"N-no...not really..." Fina blushed. "I'm sorry, is that unusual?"

"Well, uhm...most people have pets...but not everyone..." he replied, shrugging. "This little guy's mine. His name's Pow."

"Pow?" Fina smiled and tentatively reached out a hand for the tiny canine, who instantly perked up and trotted over to her. His pink tongue lolled out of his mouth happily as she began to run her fingers through his thick, coarse fur. "What an unusual name. What is he?"

"You mean you don't know?" Vyse was quick to give her a smile as she blushed again, mentally kicking himself for making her feel so left out. "His kind of animal is called a Huskra. They have very distinctive barks...it sounds like they're saying 'pow' every time they bark at you. So that's what I named him."

"I see! That's funny." Fina giggled, lifting a hand to her mouth to sort of hide it.

It was getting fairly late in the day now. Vyse had long ago given Fina a tour of the island and introduced her to all of the inhabitants there. She quickly charmed everyone, much to his surprise, which in turn earned him teasing remarks such as, "Nice catch, Vyse!" and, "Your job has some good perks, doesn't it?" Nevertheless, Fina seemed to be slowly opening up to him the more he talked to her, especially now that they were able to converse one-on-one. It was the larger crowds that really intimidated her.

"Hey, guys!" A familiar voice called. Both Vyse and Fina looked up in unison to see Aika jogging towards them from the direction of her house. She had shifted into more comfortable clothing and taken her hair down, allowing it to tumble around her face and shoulders and down her back like a veil of lively flames.

Vyse grinned to her. "All rested up now?"

"Hey, waking up when it's still dark out isn't easy!" she protested, but nevertheless was grinning. "I napped longer than I wanted to, though. The sun's setting!"

"It's quite beautiful, though..." Fina softly remarked, with a shy smile.

"Isn't it?" Aika grinned, then pointed to the tiny island floating high above their heads. "Let's go up to Lookout Island! We'll have a great view from there."

"Good idea!" Vyse stood, brushing the grass off his tunic. "C'mon, Fina, it's really nice. You can see for leagues up there."

"Oh, thank you for inviting me." Fina smiled and stood as well, gently patting Pow on the head. "I will give you more petting later, I promise," she told the huskra.

"Pow pow!" he replied, as if understanding her, and romped off.

Aika grinned and led the way.

It took a good three minutes to climb up the tall ladder that reached into the skies. The island it led to was tiny, barely three meters across, and fenced around its perimeter to keep others from falling. It was blanketed in a thick mat of soft grass, and a bench had been placed into one corner of it, but otherwise it was rather bland and unimpressive. It was on this bench that Vyse took a seat, and Aika joined him, leaning back on her palms. Fina quietly stood nearby.

The sky was bathed in the warm, bold colors of the sunset. A deep purple served as the base color, erupting up from the lower level of clouds, eventually melting away into a rosy pink and then a tangy orange. The clouds were misted in pastel lavender and carnation hues, and in the distance the nearby sky rift flowed on in an easternly direction, rippling in similar, if not paler colors. Directly above their heads hung the gigantic white orb that was the Silver Moon, as if it were there to see the sun off to bed.

"Oh my...this is absolutely gorgeous..." Fina breathed.

Vyse smiled. "Yeah...I come up here just about every day to relax and watch the sunsets. It makes me wonder what lies beyond the sky...beyond the sunset."

"Beyond...the sunset...?" Fina asked, looking a little surprised.

"Heh. Yeah..." Vyse smiled to her, then gazed back out at the swollen sun. "Sailors have all sorts of theories regarding the world. They say it has an end to it, and if you sail too far, you'll reach the edge of the sky. Nobody knows what's really there. Some say it's full of horrible monsters, some say there's a giant maelstrom that either sucks ships in or blows them away, and they're never seen again. And still others say that it's just...impossible. But I don't like giving up on things without giving them my best shot." He looked back at her, eyes dancing. "One day, I'm gonna be the captain of my own ship. I'm gonna sail beyond that sunset, and I'll see everything that lies there."

"Wow..." Aika smiled wistfully, affixing her dark gaze on to the colorful horizon. "If you could sail beyond the sunset, I bet the sky would be even more beautiful..."

"What...do you imagine it looking like?" Fina tentatively asked.

"I'm not sure, really," Vyse replied, thoughtfully. "Since the sky is usually blue, I figure it will still be blue once we pass up the sunset. And...and all the stars in the sky, they'll be there too. We'll have sailed so far, we would have sailed past the moons." He grinned. "I'll put the flag of the Blue Storm on each one of them!"

As if in response to that statement, the wind suddenly picked up and two bright flashes of white appeared above them. Arcing down from the direction of the moon, the two streaks plummeted with astounding speed. Vyse quickly reached for his goggles and focused them, following the descent of the long, silvery tails. One disappeared beneath the clouds, but the other crash-landed on a far-off island in a bright ball of light and a thick cloud of dust.

Aika sprang to her feet. "Vyse! Were those moonstones?"

"Huge ones!" he confirmed, gawking. "One of them just hit that island way in the distance...that's Shrine Island, isn't it?"

"I don't understand...those were moonstones?" Fina asked, blinking.

"Fina, you know what moonstones are, right?" Aika asked.

"Oh, of course I know of them," Fina replied, clasping her hands over her chest. "This is just my first time actually seeing one fall..."

Aika grinned slyly, then elbowed Vyse in the side. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked him with a wink.

"Heh, of course!" Vyse returned the grin mischievously. "We can't let that rock just lay there! Tomorrow, let's go get it!"

"Vyse! Aika! Fina!" a muffled voice suddenly called from down below. Vyse peered over the edge of the island to see his mother below on the deck, waving up to them. "Dinner's ready!"

"Alright! A perfect end to a perfect day!" Aika laughed, then took Fina by the arm. "C'mon, you'll love this! Vyse's mom cooks the best meals!"

Again, poor Fina was dragged away, and Vyse could only watch in amusement at the antics of the two new, if not awkward friends. He had to wonder for a moment though, for as Fina descended, she paused for a very long time to gaze up at the moon. She almost looked sad.

* * *

"I...thought it was the least I could do, since you rescued me..." Fina quietly explained as she handed Vyse a small pack made out of white silk. "These are the only supplies that were taken with me off my ship. I hope they'll be of some use to you on your quest this morning..."

"Healing crystals? Fina, this stuff's expensive! Are you sure you want to give it all to us?" Vyse blinked, utterly astonished at her offer.

Fina smiled. "Oh yes, of course. I-I owe it to you, and besides...I want you and Aika to have a safe journey. I know you will be gone most of the day, and in an old, abandoned place like that, anything could happen."

"I guess you're right." He paused and closed the drawstring of the bag, setting it aside for the moment. "Hey, Fina...do you want to come with us?"

"O-oh!" The notion really caught Fina off guard, and her eyes went wide in surprise. "I-I'm sorry...I probably shouldn't. I don't know anything about fighting, let alone sailing or piracy. I'd only be a burden to you."

"Nonsense." Vyse smiled, and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. Again, she looked quite surprised. "Heh...anyone can be an air pirate. We don't just start brawls and drink loqua, you know! But I'd never force you into anything you don't want to do. And I'd feel guilty if you did end up getting hurt. So if that's your decision, I respect it."

A sudden tapping on his window got his attention. He stood and ambled over to it, realizing that Aika was below, throwing pebbles up at it. She managed to pelt him with one just as he opened the window.

"Ow!"

"Oh, so you are awake!" she called up, amused. "Are you gonna get down here, or what? Let's go!"

"Gimme a sec, would you?" he shouted back down, then bundled up an old sock sitting nearby, tossed it down at her, and closed the window.

Fina blinked as he turned back to face her. "Does Aika order you around like that all the time?" she asked.

"Haha...she's pretty bossy, but most the time she's only pretending," he replied, buckling his cutlass sheaths around himself, then slinging the linen bag over his shoulder. He rummaged through his dresser and at last found his little keyring, which had two small, polished moonstones on it: one red and one green. He pocketed it and then turned for the ladder that led down from his lofty room, and Fina followed.

Down below, his mother was at the hearth cooking breakfast. Spicy and sweet aromas tantalizingly filled the room, causing his mouth to water and his stomach to rumble. His father sat at the table drinking a mug of cider, mustache bristling over the rim of the cup each time he lifted it to his mouth to take a sip. Pow was laying at his feet, peering up at him with begging eyes in the hopes that he might drop something edible.

"Look who's risen from the dead!" Dyne teased, eyes sparkling with mirth.

"Oh, Vyse, there you are." Vyse's mother turned and smiled at him, clasping her hands together. "I just finished breakfast. I'm packing it up now so you and Aika can take it with you. Good morning, Fina!"

"Good morning." Fina smiled and bowed deeply to the both of them. "I'd like to thank you both for allowing me to stay the night in your house. I appreciate all your hospitality...I was quite comfortable."

"Hahaha...think nothing of it!" Dyne tipped his mug at her. "You're a wonderful guest, Fina. Feel free to stay as long as you'd like."

"See?" Vyse grinned and nudged her. Her only response was a shy smile back and a lot of blushing.

"Oh, Vyse, while I'm thinking about it..." Dyne set his mug down and stood, heading into the room that he and Vyse's mother shared. "I've got your share of yesterday's raid. It might be a good idea to take it with you, just in case." He disappeared into the room, and returned a moment later with a small leather pouch, absolutely bulging full of bulky objects. He brought it over to the table and dumped out its contents for Vyse to see, and both he and Fina gasped in unison.

"Oh my!" Fina's eyes were wide. "Look at how much it sparkles!"

"Hahah...my son did pretty good, no?" Dyne winked at her.

"Whoa!" Vyse eagerly sorted through what had been scattered on the table, positively grinning from ear to ear. "This is a lot of gold! And...what's this? A moonstone?" He held up the tiny polished purple rock, flinching as it emitted a bitter coldness into his palm.

"A purple moonstone, yes," Dyne confirmed, nodding. "Add it to your keyring. With that Aika should be able to channel frost magic as well. It's been processed and everything."

"Haha...great!" Vyse quickly added the stone to his keyring, pausing to admire the three glittering shapes before stuffing it back into his pocket. "Is that everything?"

"Yep, that's it. Oh, and this is Aika's share. Give that to her when you get outside." Dyne shoved another pouch across the table to him.

"Sure thing." Vyse nodded and began to stuff his own treasure back into his pouch. By the time he was done, his mom had set a packet of food before him as well, all bundled up into a large blue and white checkered handkerchief.

"Be careful out there, and good luck!" she told him, beaming.

Aika was waiting for him outside, leaning back against one of the wooden pillars supporting the deck above. She had a blue handbag slung around her shoulders and was grinning as he arrived. When he handed her the treasure, she practically bounced with excitement.

"Look at this! Twenty five hundred gold! And a new moonstone! This has _gotta_ be our best catch yet!" She quickly stuffed the bag into her belt pouch, then beamed over to Fina, who had quietly followed Vyse out. "Morning, Fina! Didja sleep okay?"

"Quite well, yes." Fina smiled. "Thank you."

"So, are you coming with us?" Aika held out a hand to her. "We'd love to have you along."

"Oh...no. Like I already told Vyse, I likely shouldn't come with you." Fina was apologetic. "I assure you, I'd only get in the way."

"You'll have to come along one of these times, if you're gonna stay here a while." Aika winked, then elbowed Vyse. "Let's go already! I'm tired of waiting! The boat's up on deck."

With that, she turned and darted up the deck, and Vyse could only laugh and follow. Fina hurried after them, running in strides so tiny that it looked like she was floating over the ground instead. When they reached the upper docks, they found Briggs there waiting for them, idly twirling a dagger in one hand. Behind him was a small skiff with blue sails that were unmarked, so as to look inconspicuous to other vessels out pirate-hunting. Across its bow in black block letters was the name _Horatio_.

"Mornin', Vyse." Briggs nodded curtly to him. "I got your skiff ready to go for you. Good luck out there today."

"Thanks!" Vyse grinned to the vice captain, then hefted his stuff on board and climbed in himself. Aika followed, but Fina chose to only stand beside the boat, handing him a little white handkerchief instead.

"Please be careful," she told him, with a bashful smile, then turned and walked away.

* * *

_Yes...they are a lot alike..._ Fina thought with a fond and reminiscent smile as she watched the tiny form of Vyse's skiff disappear over the horizon. _I hope at least he'll return, though. He really is a kind person..._

Vyse and Aika were quite the pair, and it baffled her that everyone worked so closely together in this region of the world. What startled her even more was Aika's extrovertedness -- she acted just as masculine as Vyse did! She didn't quite understand the lifestyle of these people, but Vyse seemed to love it. It fascinated her.

A sudden chorus of tiny voices caught her attention as she slowly made her way down the deck. The three children of the village, Lindsi, Jimmy and Alan, were awake and already out playing with Pow. She giggled and watched them, amazed at how well they got along both with each other, and with an animal. And here she hadn't thought that bonding with real animals was possible! Just the thought made her absently stroke the bracelet around her wrist.

"Good morning..." she shyly greeted as she changed her course and joined the children instead.

"Hey, it's Fina!"

"Morning, Fina!"

"Hi, Fina!" Lindsi, ran over to her with a big grin. She had fluffy brown hair pulled back into a thick ponytail, and was clothed in a simple yellow dress. Fina wondered if that meant she was related at all to Aika. "Didja come to play with us?"

"Yeah, come play!" Jimmy insisted. He looked a lot like the man who had prepared Vyse's skiff, she realized, except a lot smaller. The enormous grin he wore reminded her of Vyse, and she had to inwardly laugh, because he was quite clearly the leader of the little group. "You gotta!"

"Oh, I do?" Fina asked with a smile and a laugh.

"Yeah! We were playin' hide an' seek!" Alan chimed in. He was far different from the other two children; he looked very thin and pale and was always hunched over panting.

_Heart problems..._ Fina realized, watching him carefully. _He has a weak heart. These people don't have the equipment necessary to fix it, either. I'll have to help him, otherwise he'll die in a few years..._

"What are you playing?" she asked out loud, maintaining her smile.

"Hide and seek!" Lindsi announced. "Pow's playing with us too!"

"C'mon, join us, Fina!" Jimmy was quite persistent, and it made her laugh again. "You can be 'it'!"

"I...I'm afraid I don't know the rules..." she hesitantly said.

"It's easy!" Jimmy replied. "When you're 'it', you cover your eyes and count to ten. Everybody else has'ta hide while you're counting. When you're done counting, you gotta come looking for us. The first person you find is 'it'." He grinned. "You'll never find me, though, 'cause I'm the bestest at this game."

"Is that so?" She giggled. "Well, uhm...hurry up and hide, and I'll count. And I'll find you before I find anybody else!"

"Haha...if you do, I'll tell you a secret!" Jimmy's eyes glinted mischievously.

Fina bade them to hide with that, obediently covering her eyes and counting to ten as loud as she could. When she finished, both the children and Pow were gone and nowhere in sight.

_I wonder...would it be considered cheating?_ she thought to herself. _No, because he didn't say so in the rules. I will find him first, then._

Fina closed her eyes again and relaxed the muscles in her body. She conjured up an image of Jimmy in her mind: the Vyselike, roguish boy was there, grinning at her. She imagined him to the last detail, then mentally reached out towards him, as if she were physically holding out her hand. She felt her mind connect with his and knew exactly where he was.

_He's clever..._ she thought as she turned and began to make her way towards the largest cluster of houses on the island. She tried to distinguish one from the other as she traveled between them. One was Aika's, one was Vyse's grandmother's, and...no wait, that was the one!

She turned and walked along the side of Vyse's grandmother's house until she came to a set of two poles with rope strung between them. Hanging from the rope were various sheets and garments, which fluttered softly in the breeze, and she realized that they were drying.

_How primitive..._

She knew she was in the right place, however. With a smile, she stepped towards one of the sheets and gently folded it back, revealing Jimmy on the other side.

"Hey, you peeked!" he accused, looking utterly incredulous. "You just stopped counting. There's no way you could have known I was here!"

Did they call mental location "peeking" down here? Something in Fina doubted they even knew what it was.

"I just followed my instincts," she replied, with a smile.

"Wow, Jimmy, you got found real quick!" Lindsi giggled as she slid out of a nearby tree, and Alan poked his head out from around a corner. Pow sprang out from behind a pile of boxes and joined them, tail wagging happily. "That was like magic, Fina!"

Fina giggled. "I-I suppose it is."

"Do you know magic?" Alan asked, peering up at her curiously. "Aika does. She's the only person here who can do it, 'cept for Vyse's mom."

"Nuh-uh, Vyse knows some too!" Lindsi argued.

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Please...please, there's no need to argue." Fina felt a little awkward. She had never spent this much time with younger children before, and she most certainly didn't know a thing about caring for them. She had always been the youngest sibling in her own family. She sat down, smoothing out her skirts, and smiled to them. "I-I do know magic, yes."

"Ooh!" That caught the attention of all three children, and they sat down around her, eyes wide.

"What do you know?"

"Can you teach us somethin'?"

"I know very many spells," she replied, blushing a bit. She felt like she was bragging. "I'm familiar with all six of the elements, especially Silver Magic."

Jimmy gawked. "Silver Magic's _hard_! Well...that's what Aika said. She said it can either heal people or kill 'em dead, and you can look into their heads and stuff."

"Aika only knows Red and Green magic..." Lindsi explained. "More Red, though, 'cause Vyse's mommy is from Nasr, and she's the one who taught it to her."

"Nasr...that is the desert kingdom, correct?" Fina asked. "The one under the Red Moon?"

Lindsi nodded. "Yeah, that's the one. They say it's really, really hot there."

"I see." Fina smiled. "Well, I suppose I could teach you something. Is there anything in particular you want to learn?"

"Silver Magic!" the three chorused.

Fina was startled. They were demanding it!

_This world is the opposite of mine...the complete opposite._ She shook her head as she thought of the punishment for being so disrespectful back home. But she was not a particularly important figure in her own society, and she was in a foreign world now, where she knew customs were entirely different. She chose to ignore the outburst.

"Alright, I will teach you a simple Silver spell, to start with," she replied, with a smile. "My brother taught it to me when I was your age, so I know you'll be able to learn it with ease. It will allow you to take small objects and make them float, like--"

"CAPTAIN! EMERGANCY!"

Startled, the group looked up to see a burly man atop Lookout Island, frantically waving flags down at them.

"CAPTAIN!"

Dyne burst out of his house a moment later, Lorena right behind him. He craned his neck back to peer up at the man, silhouetted against the sun.

"What is it, Ben?" he shouted up at him.

"Valuans!" he called back down. "An entire attack squadron, one and a quarter leagues north from here! They're coming right this way!"

Dyne looked like he had seen a ghost. "Briggs! BRIGGS!" he shouted up towards the dock.

"Captain!" came the reply.

"Sound the alarm! We must get everyone underground, quickly!"

A moment later, a bell began to frantically ring from the direction of the docks.

The response to the alarm was instantaneous. People exploded from their houses and began to run towards the entrance to the underground port, which had been meticulously hidden in the wall of a cliff. Dyne got into the middle of the group and began shouting orders, directing the women and the children to go first, allowing no time for people to stop and gather valuables.

"The Armada!" Lindsi looked petrified.

"Lindsi! We gotta get underground!" Jimmy sprang to his feet. "Alan! Fina! C'mon! We gotta hide!"

Fina quickly and fluidly rose to her feet and stared off into the distance. Sure enough, a small fleet of black iron ships were headed their way, the roar of their engines carrying all the way to them on the breeze. It was then that she realized the irony of the situation. Now their hiding wasn't a game anymore.

The children bolted, and Pow followed, quickly disappearing into the crowd surging towards the port. Bewildered, Fina rushed to follow as well, just as canon fire started erupting all around the island. She covered her ears and winced as everything around her started blossoming in bursts of flame and shards of wood. A nearby house shattered as a large shell went through it, and she heard multiple people scream as they did their best to dodge the flaming debris. Another explosion sent Dyne flying, and he scrambled to take up the rear of the pack, urging his people to hurry onward.

With Dyne's encouragement, the entire population of the village managed to get underground safely. He was quick to throw the door closed, and bolted it with multiple locks. Up above, muffled through the rock of the cavern, they could hear the explosions continue, and they echoed eerily like the low rumbles of some enormous beast through the empty air.

Everybody congregated on the deck of the _Albatross_, per Dyne's command. He insisted there may be a need for them to escape and had the ship prepared for departure in haste. He refused to turn the engines on, however, lest it give their position away.

"Dammit..." the captain mumbled as he flopped down onto a barrel on the deck. He looked defeated. "After twenty three years in hiding...they finally found us. How?"

"It happens to everybody..." one of his deckhands replied, shaking his head ruefully. "Even the captain of the Firestrike has been thrown in jail multiple times. He always gets out..."

"There's a big difference between the Firestrike and the Blue Storm," the lone female raider pointed out, joining in to the conversation. "All of the _Claudia_'s men are much more reckless than we are. Besides, that man's never once been thrown into a Valuan prison. Moons help anyone who gets tossed in there..."

"Well...let's worry about one thing at a time here..." Dyne hesitantly replied. "We need to keep things in perspective. Is anybody hurt?"

"Just minor injuries, Captain, don't worry," a female voice replied from within the crowd. Fina recognized it as that of Erinn, the ship's doctor. "I'm taking care of them."

"Good..." Dyne shook his head. "At least something's going right..."

"Captain Dyne..." Fina slowly approached him, worriedly clasping her hands over her chest. "What...what is going on outside? I don't understand..."

"The Valuan Armada has found us," Dyne replied, motioning for her to sit down. "We've been criminals to them for a long time...heh, since I was nineteen, in fact. They abhor Air Pirates like you wouldn't believe. Somehow, they found out we live here, and now they're destroying our entire village. We should be safe down here, but if they find out how to get inside, it's pretty much over. They greatly outnumber us...there's no way we could fight them all."

"W...what about Vyse and Aika?" Fina suddenly felt a pang of dread for her two new friends, clasping her hands together nervously.

"The Armada likely passed them up. The wouldn't bother with a small unmarked skiff like that," Dyne replied. "Vyse may be crazy sometimes, but he's no dummy. He'll know to keep away from the vessels, even if they're destroying this place right before his eyes. He knows when he's out like that that it's his duty to protect Aika -- and himself."

"I hope he'll be okay..." she muttered.

A sudden icy chill pierced her mind, and she jolted upright with a gasp. There was a familiar energy signature to the feeling -- strands of gray coursed throughout her body, but they were polluted by intermingling threads of black as well. A moment later, the feeling abruptly stopped and she was left there, wide eyed and shivering.

"Fina? Honey, what's wrong?" Vyse's mother asked, concerned.

"T-they found us..." Fina stammered.

"Huh? What makes you so sure of that?" Dyne asked.

Fina wasn't so sure she would be able to explain the concept of mental location to them. Telepathy was a skill belonging to her people alone...and yet...she had just felt somebody reaching for her mind and making a connection, just as she had done with Jimmy. How was that possible?

"J-just believe me..." Suddenly she sprang to her feet, turning to face him. "Captain, sir, please! We must leave this place at once! They're going to come down here any minute now!"

Dyne stared at her for a long moment. But the unsuppressed fear in her eyes softened his features, and he abruptly stood. "Battle stations!" he roared. "Start the engines and ready the cannons! We'll have to fight our way outta here!"

"Aye aye!" the crowd replied, and instantly everybody scattered, disappearing below deck.

The sails were unfurled and the deck began to vibrate as the _Albatross_' engines came to life. Dyne took Fina with him on to the bridge and began to hastily flip on the navigation consoles, fingers working deftly as he prepared for take off. Out on the deck, Briggs shot at the release lever that opened and closed the port gate, and the wall of the cavern slowly began to grind open. Fina noticed that Dyne was beginning to sweat.

A sudden pop caught their attention, and through one of the windows on the bridge she could see the door to the underground port burst open. Armed soldiers began to rush through, and they settled along the upper tier, aiming long, slender, metal tube-like objects at them. Each one cracked and burst as it shot out fire and lightning, and she realized they were larger versions of the shooting weapons Dyne and Briggs used. They were shooting at the sails and quickly reducing them to ribbons.

Clenching his teeth, Dyne threw the ship into reverse and began to back it out under full engine power. The aft of the ship had just slid out of the port when a Valuan flagship dropped down from above and blocked the exit, each gun trained on the _Albatross_. Various soldiers were on its deck, each one armed and at the ready.

"No...no way..." Briggs went pale as he stared out the window at the flagship. "Captain...look at that flag..."

"Galcian..." Dyne was equally as shocked. "Of all the Admirals to get caught by..."

"We're dead..." Landis murmured.

Dyne ordered everybody out on the deck, and to go without their weapons. When at last the entire crowd had assembled, a small group of Valuan soldiers had boarded as well and was keeping their weapons trained on them.

"Who is the Captain of this vessel?!" one of the guards ordered. Fina realized they weren't speaking Meridian and tried to recall the Valuan language, which was one of many she had been required to learn, from the back of her mind.

"...I am," Dyne replied, boldly stepping forward. He spoke the language just as fluently as the soldier did.

"I come on behalf of Lord Galcian," the soldier said, pointing the weapon at him. "He says you are to surrender now and come with us quietly. If you do, the lives of all the women and children will be spared."

"And if we don't?" Dyne asked.

"You all die."

Dyne fell silent, his face stony, his jaw clenched tight. His dark gaze swept over the crowd of his followers: the women, some carrying children; his own wife, cradling Pow; Erinn, healing the wounded; and then Fina, who was hiding in the back. Abruptly he drooped, and sighed, shaking his head.

"We surrender."

"Victor!" Lorena cried.

"Silence, wench!" the soldier ordered. "Detain the men! Get them on to the ship."

The soldiers behind him sheathed their weapons and came forward with rope to bind the arms of the air pirates. The women stumbled back, crying softly, watching as their loved ones were taken from them. Fina began to follow, to go comfort Vyse's mother, but she was abruptly grabbed by one of the soldiers and roughly turned around.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

Fina fumbled for her tongue, and for the correct Valuan words. "I...I am not an air pirate..."

"Funny," he replied flatly, then tossed her down onto the deck of the ship. "That's not what I was referring to."

Fina tried to climb back to her feet, but be bludgeoned her across the head with his weapon. She crumpled to the ground and lay there, stunned.

"Hey!" Dyne roared furiously, as he was taken away. "You said you'd free the women and children! She has nothing to do with us!"

"Exactly," a soft tenor voice replied. An officer emerged from the crowd, clothed entirely in black, but Fina's vision was blurred and she couldn't see anything distinctive about him. He strode over to the soldier who had knocked her over and punched him clean across the face. "You were given explicit orders not to harm her!"

"S-sir, she was resisting..." he meekly replied.

The officer hit him again. "I ordered you all not to harm her, did I not? Do you want me to cleave you in two here and now?"

"N-no, sir." He bowed, fearfully.

The officer growled quietly, then crouched down beside Fina and gathered her into his arms. She struggled to keep her consciousness as he lifted her, but she was surprised at how gentle he was being, even as he made his way back onto the flagship. "We are done here. Set this vessel alight and let it burn. If the women and children don't get off in time, that's their own fault. We've gotten what we came for."

"Understood, sir," the soldiers replied.

Fina's consciousness continued to waver as the officer brought her inside the ship and took her down a separate hallway than the air pirates were being forced along. Instead, he brought her into a room that was rather elegantly furnished, and carefully laid her down on a couch covered in velvet cushions. She rolled against it a bit as the vessel pitched and began to move, and he stood behind her quietly, never moving, never saying a word.

The minutes passed in silence as Fina slowly tried to regain her senses. By then, she was sure, they were far from Pirate Isle, and she began to fear the worst. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she tried to restrain them, burying her face into a pillow instead.

She heard the door open and a man in armor walk in.

"What is it?" the officer asked.

"His Lordship wishes to know if all is well with the girl," the other man replied. "He will want to speak with her. He sent me to guard her, so you don't have to do so yourself."

"...I am capable of it," the officer replied.

"Sir, such a job is not fitting for one of your stature..." the man replied. "Allow me to do it, and--"

"Fool. She isn't an air pirate!" the officer snapped.

"But--"

"Leave!" the officer ordered instead. "I will do as I wish, unless Lord Galcian orders otherwise. Remove yourself from my sight and make yourself useful elsewhere."

"...Understood, Vice Captain Ramirez."

Fina suddenly stopped her crying. Slowly, carefully, she lifted her tear streaked face from the pillow and looked towards the doorway, where the officer was still arguing with his subordinate. His back was to her, so all she could see was his shoulder-length hair, platinum as hers was. He was, indeed, dressed entirely in black, in a tight-fitting outfit trimmed elegantly in red and golden threads. Sheathed at his side was a sword that looked to be forged completely out of silver, but she couldn't get a good look at it.

_It can't be...That name...it's a rough Valuan translation, but..._

But her head throbbed so painfully! It hurt to think, hurt to remember. Closing her eyes, Fina elected to not think instead, slowly slipping into a fitful slumber.


	4. Clues From the Past

Shrine Island was nothing more than a tiny oval of land covered in overgrowth and flooded by years of rain, which had caused a large manmade pool to overflow. At it's heart, however, sat a magnificent, tower like building that rose into the sky, beaten to a jade green by the weather, and covered in centuries of moss. The perfectly-proportioned structure was made out of a strange material, of the likes Vyse had never seen before. It looked like stone, but shone like metal, and etched into every crevice of it were strange lines that glittered when the sunlight hit them just right. A thin, weakened walkway led across the water to the entrance of the building -- it was the only way in, or out.

"Wow...I've never seen this place close up." Vyse grinned from ear to ear, lifting one hand to shade his eyes from the sunlight as he gazed up at the awesome structure. "It's impressive!"

"In the Old World, this place was built as some sorta shrine to the Moons," Aika said, grinning and placing a hand on her hip. "That's what they say, anyways. Nobody knows what it was used for exactly, but they say it's haunted now. That's why nobody ever comes here."

"Heh. Haunted, huh? I'll believe it when I see it." Vyse smirked and began to zoom in on the building to further study it, but he frowned when he noticed the structure had undergone some considerable damage. A gaping hole was in its side, just above the water. It was large enough to allow the pool to leak inside.

"Dammit...the moonstone must have landed inside..." he said. "There's a big hole in the side and water's flowing in."

"You mean the place is flooded?!" Aika looked incredulous. "Don't tell me that, I can't swim!"

"We can't give up after sailing three hours to get here." Vyse shook his head. "C'mon, let's go and see where it landed. I'm sure it won't be impossible to retrieve."

Without waiting for an answer, Vyse began to lead the way, boldly striding across the weakened walkway stretching out over the water. Aika followed in a slightly more timid manner, clearly afraid of what would happen if the narrow passage decided to crumble beneath them, but it was surprisingly solid and didn't feel as weak as it looked. It spanned a good half-mile across the artificial channel until giving way to the first landing of the tower, where a large red door stood in their path. Vyse stared dumbly at it as he looked for a handle or doorknob to turn.

"...I don't get it. How do you open this thing?"

"Maybe you can only open it from the inside?" Aika guessed. "I dunno, maybe there's a lever or something around here, somewhere."

"I don't see anything..." Vyse shuffled closer to the door, but he jumped when he found it suddenly slid open before him with only minimal grinding. It was just as functional as it had apparently been over a thousand years earlier.

"What'd you do?" Aika asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Vyse chuckled. "This must be why people think the place is haunted. The doors open for you."

"Are you sure a ghost _didn't_ do that?" Aika's eyes were wide.

Vyse smirked. "Aika, the people of the Old World were capable of making practically anything! If the Valuans can make ships out of steel, then why couldn't the people of the Old World make doors that open on their own?"

"You've got a point. Lead the way, genius."

As Vyse and Aika stepped inside, the door immediately closed behind them. Vyse had to pause a moment to let his eyes adjust to the much dimmer light, but the hole in the wall caused by the moonstone allowed a small trickle of sunlight in, enough so that they could see where they were going. They were apparently in a lobby, which, up until the moonstone had invaded, had obviously been in the exact shape it was left in long ago. It was a large and circular room, with floors that tiered down beneath the ground level of the island. The impact of the moonstone had been enough to crumble all of the floors away, and now they lay as a heap of white rubble at the bottom, all piled atop one another.

The roof rose high above them, where a flight of stairs continued ascending along the actual tower portion of the structure. They spiraled along the side of the wall and conformed to its curvature, but the impact of the moonstone had crumbled the base portion away and it was impossible to get up there now. A faded mural was painted on the ceiling, but in the dim light, Vyse couldn't tell what it was. As the tower continued spiraling upwards, it faded into darkness.

A good twelve feet below him, Vyse realized that the entire building -- which had more or less turned in to one big chamber now -- was flooded with water from the outside. Strange pieces of furniture and artwork floated atop the surface, gently circling around in the lazy eddy caused by the continuous flow. At the very bottom, in the center of all the rubble, sunken treasures, and debris, sat the biggest hunk of raw moonstone he had ever stumbled upon. It was easily as big as his head, and roughly in a spherical shape, glowing the most pure and blinding white either of them had seen.

"Vyse, that moonstone's _huge_!" Aika exclaimed, her eyes wide. The stone's glow reflected as silver highlights within the two dark brown pools. "How are we ever going to retrieve it from down there?"

"Hmm..." Vyse frowned in thought, again using his goggles as he studied the room. Through the darkness, he could see that each floor led to a door, following a slightly crumbled path. "I could easily dive that far down, but I couldn't get that rock up on my own. And I know you can't swim. Let's see if we can't drain the water through the other doors down there."

"Ooh, good idea!" Aika nodded. "Let's do it!"

Carefully, Vyse began to make his way around the remaining portion of the floor ringing the room. He followed it upwards, to where the next floor should have been, and found a door awaiting them on top there. Realizing it must have led back outside, he stepped in front of it, waited for it to open, and found himself a moment later standing upon a balcony overlooking the artificial pool. Sitting almost directly in front of him was a strange glowing prism made of silver moonstone, hovering a good foot off a black pedestal set into the balcony floor.

"Neat! A treasure already!" Aika grinned wolfishly as she approached the prism, fingers spread wide eagerly.

"Aika, you don't know what that does!" Vyse replied. "If it was a treasure, why would they leave it out here?"

Too late. Aika had already gotten a hold of the prism and was trying to yank it away from the pedestal, but it refused to move. Instead, the enchanting gem made a soft whining noise and began to sink into it, and Aika stumbled back, looking confused. Suddenly, the strange lines intricately carved into the masonry of the building came to life, glowing a bright and shimmering silver. Just as abruptly, the entire building began to tremble, and dust clouds bloomed everywhere as the balcony began to sink. No, Vyse realized, the whole building was sinking!

Aika eyed the approaching water like a wary cat as the pool drew nearer and nearer. Vyse began to wonder just how much more the building was going to sink -- and _how_ it was even sinking in the first place -- but he stood his ground. To his surprise and Aika's relief, it came to a stop when the balcony became level with the walkway they had crossed to get into the shrine in the first place. The door they had just come out of was now the entrance to the shrine.

"Uhm...does this mean we just made it worse?" Aika asked, blinking.

"No, look." Vyse pointed to their right, to where the gaping hole had been. "The hole's underground now. We cut off the water flow. Heh, that was the best mistake you ever made, Aika."

She smirked, rolled her eyes and elbowed him, then turned and looked at the crystal, which was barely poking out of the pedestal. "...I wonder why they would want their buildings to sink..." she mused to herself. "It doesn't make sense."

"Nobody said the Old World ever _did_ make sense," Vyse replied. With that, he turned for the door and opened it back up. "C'mon, let's get back to work."

The inside of the tower had gotten neither smaller nor larger after the building's sinking, but Vyse's theory about the water flow had been correct. Nodding in satisfaction, he backtracked to the door they had first came in through and realized they couldn't go any lower because the water was blocking their path. At a loss, he at last turned and stared at the door, wondering if it would even open now.

Tentatively, Vyse approached it, but to his surprise it slid open again. Even more surprising was the fact that, on the other side now, was a long hallway composed of white stone blocks instead of the artificial lake they had left behind. Aika peered over his shoulder curiously.

"It looks dark...where do you think that goes?"

Vyse paused for a moment, and listened. "I dunno, but I think I can hear the wind coming through it. It may lead somewhere back outside. Let's go check it out."

Sure enough, as they followed the hall, they found it jogged right and suddenly opened up into a tiny glass catwalk suspended above open sky. The catwalk wrapped around the building, which jutted awkwardly out of the bottom of the island, and around to another level of it.

"Moons, I didn't realize the island was so shallow!" Aika exclaimed. "We're beneath it! It's like...it's like something just took the ground right out from under it!"

"This is bizarre. Who would put a glass pathway over open sky?" Vyse shook his head. "I hope it's stable." Carefully, he extended a leg and experimentally put the weight of one foot down on the catwalk. It held and pushed back against his weight firmly. The entire walkway seemed to be covered in strange designs, but they had been weathered away and he wasn't sure if he was seeing things or not.

"What is it?" Aika asked, blinking.

"Nothing, it's nothing..." Vyse realized, shaking his head. "I thought I recognized something, but it was just me..."

With that, he took the lead again, and Aika carefully shimmied along behind him. They soon came to a dead end, but there was a ledge below them, and Vyse boldly hopped down to it, catching her as she did the same. She gave him a large grin, but he only chuckled and continued on, following the ledge as it wound around the outside of the building.

"It must have eroded with time," Aika mused, as they sidled along. "But the rest of these ruins seems so sturdy. I can't see how some parts would have just collapsed while the rest is in perfect shape."

"Well, there was a giant war in the Old World," Vyse replied, pausing to peek around a corner before continuing. "Perhaps some of this was destroyed in the war instead."

"But why would they attack the bottom of the building?" Aika asked. "Wouldn't most people be in that tower part? Like important people?"

"Not necessarily. If they kept something important here, it'd likely be underneath the island, where it's harder for ships to reach. If you had one shot at this place with a canon, where would you hit?"

"Whatever's vulnerable..." she replied, blinking.

Vyse nodded. "Exactly. The whole topside is vulnerable, but the bottom half isn't. See how close we are to the clouds below?"

"You're right." Aika giggled. "You're just like your dad, Vyse."

"How so?"

"You know the right things to blow up."

Vyse laughed. It wasn't the reply he had been expecting, but it amused him nevertheless. He stopped, however, when he came to another door with water leaking out from under it.

"If we open this thing, we'll be blown right off the ledge."

"So what do we do?" Aika asked.

"Mmm..." Vyse thought for a moment, then drew one of his cutlasses -- the longer of the two -- and pressed himself up against the wall. Carefully, he extended his arm and tapped the floor right at the foot of the door with the blade, then quickly drew his arm back. The door slid open and a stream of water exploded out, gushing over the edge of the walkway and down into the clouds with astounding force. Aika scuttled back as some sprayed on her.

"You were right!" she shouted, over the roar of the slough.

It took several minutes for the stream of water to stop, but when it did, Vyse found a new pathway opened up. Stepping through the door, he found himself on another level of the main chamber, this one much lower than the one they had entered on. The water was now halfway drained from the entire structure, and all the debris that had been floating about now rested snugly on the bottom. It was a wonder that none of it had disintegrated.

"Look!" Aika ran past him, sloshing across the slightly-flooded walkway, and skidded to a halt next to an adjacent door. Sitting at her feet was a large gold chest. "Treasure!"

Vyse chuckled. "Alright, alright, let's see what's in there. Can you open it?"

And, with ease, she did. Her eyes lit up as she peered inside. "Oooooh!"

"What? What is it?" Vyse attempted to peer over her shoulder.

"Well...I'm not sure." Aika pointed down at the curious, foreign objects inside. "But they're pretty."

"Hmm...well..." Vyse rubbed at the back of his head, carefully sifting through some of the objects. "I doubt we can get gold for most of this...simply because people won't know what it is. Just leave it."

"What? But...but..." Aika looked crestfallen.

"Look, you saw the size of that stone, right? It will be an adventure and a half just getting it back to the skiff. We can't carry both, and this chest is heavy."

"Alright, alright." Aika sighed and reluctantly closed it.

The adjacent door lead them to a similar maze of glass walkways suspended above open sky. Carefully edging their way across, they realized that they could only go down from where they were. It was as if there had, at one point, been hallways separating the various paths, but they had since then crumbled away. Years of walking narrow lines and navigating the crow's nest had left the both of them well balanced and agile, however, and they were able to cross with ease. Vyse enjoyed the breeze of the outside air through his hair, and rather liked exploring the old ruins. He wondered just how much there was to the mysterious place.

And then they could go no farther. Once more the two were facing a massive door with more water trickling out from under it. They were far beneath the mantle of the island, to be sure, and easily at the bottom of the shrine.

"Here goes nothing..." Vyse said, using his cutlass technique to once again tap the floor.

This time, he barely managed to withdraw quick enough before the water readily exploded in front of him. Objects came flying out in multiple directions, all carried by the overwhelming force of the tide. When, after many long minutes of waiting, the gush had subsided, the inner shrine was almost completely empty, nearly devoid of the rubble of the collapsed floors or the furniture that had gone with it.

"Oh no! The moonstone!" Aika cried. "It probably washed out, too!"

"No, look. It's stuck in its own hole in the ground." Vyse pointed to the silver glow still prominently radiating from a crater in the shrine's floor. "I knew it'd be okay there. It's completely protected."

"Good thinking," she admitted, and then, unable to wait any longer, dashed for the ethereal light.

But suddenly, the room became a whole lot brighter. Looking around, Vyse realized that silver moonstone torches, lining the walls, had come to life on their own accord. Aika froze and looked back at him.

"...What did you do?"

"...I touched nothing," he replied, from where he was still standing in the doorway.

Aika uneasily took a few steps back, gazing around. "H-hello...?!" she called, her voice echoing throughout the empty shrine. The sound seemed to be absorbed into the tower and swallowed completely.

Nothing. No response. All that remained were the torches looming ominously above them.

Something began to shift. Aika jumped and whirled around, realizing that it was the pile of rubble behind her. She skittered back over to Vyse, who drew his cutlasses and stood at the ready, watching the rubble with caution. But to both of their astonishment, it formed itself into a statue easily three times their size, something roughly humanoid, but obese in shape. Holding it all together was a silver glow in its "chest".

"What in the world is that?!" Vyse cried.

Aika gawked. "It...it looks like some kind of soldier...or sentinel, or...eek!"

The sentinel pounded a rocky fist against the floor, sending dust and water flying and making the stone beneath their feet tremble. Vyse realized, however, that it was likely quite immobile; its legs were short and stocky compared to the rest of its body. They would need speed to outwit it, not strength.

"The glow!" he murmured to Aika. "Take out the glow! Weapons are useless otherwise!"

With an elongated arm, the sentinel swung out at them. Aika swiftly hopped to the side with ease, and Vyse back flipped to avoid it. He slipped in the water slightly, but rebounded himself off the wall and charged, diving between the sentinel's legs. It swung at him again and barely missed. Aika tossed her boomerang at its "head" in an attempt to divert his attention, but the boomerang ricocheted off the metallic stone and went flying uselessly in the wrong direction, disappearing into the darkness.

The sentinel shifted, trying to crush Vyse beneath a large, flat foot. He swung at it, hoping to deflect it enough to topple the golem-like creature off balance, but instead the blade was deflected, bouncing harmlessly off the stone in a flash of sparks. Vyse hurried to dive out of the way in time, and almost got himself flattened.

A massive fist was suddenly around him, wrapped tight around his waist. Vyse found himself being lifted into the air, high above the sentinel's head. He wriggled and fought to break free, but his arms were pinned against his sides and he was rendered helpless within the crushing grip. It began to squeeze him, tighter and tighter, until his chest felt ready to explode.

"Moons! Give me strength!"

Fire shot through the silver glow in the sentinel's chest, and it stumbled forward, tossing Vyse in the process. Aika tried to catch him but instead he landed on top of her and sent the both of them sprawling in the water. He gasped and tried to catch his breath, but Aika was up quicker and pursuing the sentinel. Determination was etched deep into her face.

"Here! Over here!" she shouted at it, tossing a fist-sized ball of fire at his head. It turned and swung a fist at her, and she nimbly jumped aside, landing atop a pile of rubble. Again she needed to leap away, as the hammer like fist came down and crushed her vantage point beneath her into hundreds of thousands of tiny pebbles. While it recovered, she took another spell-casting stance and flung her arms out to the sides, chanting once more, "Moons! Give me strength!"

Another stream of fire lashed throughout the monster's core. It roared and staggered back, then lowered it's "head" to look at her. A red beam of light shot out from its eyes, and she cringed, unable to dodge in time. Oddly enough, it did no apparent damage to her.

Aika shifted her stance again, preparing for another spell, but Vyse's eyes went wide. The sentinel's behavior had changed. It was raising its other arm, and standing perfectly still. That arm didn't have a fist on it.. At first he had thought it had just crumbled away, but now he realized it was a cannon! The glow in its chest suddenly shifted and flowed down its arm, and it began to come to life in a burst of golden light.

"Aika! MOVE!" he cried, lunging at her. He knocked her out of the way just as the sentinel fired a beam of light that was as wide as she was tall. It shot over their heads with a shrill noise and exploded through the wall, sending rubble flying everywhere. Vyse tensed his body as he was pelted with some sizable chunks of debris, feeling welts swelling up, but glad that the both of them had avoided a worser fate. Glancing behind him, he saw there was a new hole in the wall, allowing them to see the sky outside.

"Quick! Do something!" Aika shouted, fumbling around in the water. "I lost my moonstones! Don't let it shoot that again!"

Vyse was on his feet and dashing at the sentinel again. Aika's magic was apparently the only thing that could damage it; he needed to divert its attention until she could find her keyring once more. With the sentinel left a little defenseless after its attack, Vyse was able to leap up a different pile of rubble and onto one of its shoulders. He thought of his own keyring and fumbled for the elemental signatures of the moonstones in his mind. The first one he came into contact with was the purple moonstone his father had just given to him. He was quick to concentrate on its energy.

Gritting his teeth, Vyse forced himself to focus. His mother had attempted to teach him magic as well, but he was nowhere near as adept as Aika and had, for the most part, ignored it. Trying to recall the few lessons he had taken, he brought his hands together and tried to force the moonstone's energy between them, to mold it into a physical form. Instead it failed and exploded in a cloud of ice shards, dislodging him and sending him back to the ground.

But the sentinel was angry. Some of the ice shards had hit it and, strangely enough, managed to embed themselves into the rock.

"Aika!" He called into the darkness, trying to roll back into his feet. "Use the purple one!"

"Vyse! I don't know anything about ice magic!" she replied, fishing her keyring from the water just as the sentinel brought a foot down by her. She barely rolled away in time.

"Just...channel it! Don't try to do anything fancy!" he replied. Frowning, he picked up his offhand cutlass and threw it at the sentinel, watching it bounce uselessly off the construct's back. It turned and started to lumber towards him instead.

He could feel Aika hesitating. Experimenting with magic was dangerous, as Vyse himself had seen; that was why most people opted not to dabble in it. Most doctors studied the magic of the Green Moon for healing purposes, and that was safe enough as it rarely backfired. Red Magic, too, was very straightforward, but also more unstable. It was the magic of the "cold" moons – Silver, Blue, and Purple -- that was difficult and dangerous. He knew what he was asking of Aika, but he trusted her with it.

Aika began to focus, keeping one hand in the water. The air in the shrine grew decidedly colder, and Vyse knew it was a sign – she was going to misfire. Sucking in a deep breath, he took a running start and then dove behind a pile of rubble, right as he felt a magic spark ignite in midair and explode in a torrent of arcane energy. He heard shards of ice go flying over his head and bury themselves in the wall and debris, whistling through the air like deadly knives.

And then, it was silent. Vyse peeked over his makeshift barricade to see the sentinel crumble to the ground, the light in its chest extinguished. Aika stood over it bewilderedly, clutching the moonstones to her chest. She looked ready to fall over herself.

"Are you alive?" she asked.

"I think so. Are you?"

"Yeah..." She tried to force herself to relax. "That's...not what I was trying to do."

"Well, it worked. Good riddance to that thing." Vyse kicked some water at the sentinel, then craned his head back and gazed up at the higher floors. "Maybe this place really _is_ haunted..."

"C'mon, let's get the rock and get out of here." Aika shook herself and then knelt by the rock, the silver glow reflecting brightly in her eyes. "Heehee...treasure hunting is definitely my favorite part about being an air pirate. Everyone at home is going to be real impressed by this find."

"That's for sure." Vyse grinned, stooping to help her recover the large rock from where it rested in its own little puddle of water and light. "We've gotten what we came for. Let's go back home!"

* * *

The old man sighed raggedly to himself as he leaned back against one of the double-masts of his ship. Clutching a harpoon tightly in his stronger hand, he struck at it with a hammer in his other, beating it back into shape. It was old and it was worn, but he still had gotten many a good use out of it. Still, he had beaten the steel head to death and he knew he would need a new one soon. He spent so much money on his cannons nowadays, however, that new harpoons were on the bottom of his financial list.

Some fish flew by overhead. He eyed them momentarily with his good eye, watching in approval as they got entangled in his nets. Fishing was always good in Mid Ocean, but the different species that ran in the area weren't of a particularly high value. The market for Maroccas was doing well, however...if he could catch a few of them, he'd make great money off both their meat and their shells.

_Hmph...money...that's all I got to live for anymore..._ he thought to himself, bitterly. He had to strive for money...for without it, he couldn't complete his own personal, private mission.

Winter would be settling in in a few months. The Arcwhales would be migrating through Mid Ocean back down south to the Icelands, in order to breed. Arcwhaling was where he made his largest profits; there was always a huge market for their blubber, their bones, their hides and their second stomachs, the ones that enabled such large creatures to defy gravity and fly. Those scholars back in Cape Claudia had said that the stomach produced some sort of gas that was lighter than air -- helium? something like that -- giving Arcwhales the ability to float. It was all rubbish as far as he was concerned. Fish flew, Delphins flew, why couldn't Arcwhales?

"Damned scholars, always trying to sound smarter'n everyone else..." he grumbled to himself, pounding some more on a different harpoon. "Common sense'll do a man a lot more good than any book-learnin'."

He himself had never actually gotten a true education, but he had more than enough street smarts to make it in the world. And really, his reputation proceeded him; there was rarely a person that would bother getting in his way to begin with. Quite a few people were intimidated by him, but he liked it that way -- all the more reason for him to keep to himself.

A harpoon suddenly snapped beneath his crushing blows. With a roar, he furiously flung both pieces overboard, glaring at them as they fell. His equipment was so old...so was his ship...so was _he_. What if one day he snapped just as easily as that harpoon did? No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't allow it.

With another sigh, the old man stood and gathered the rest of his harpoons. He wasn't in the mood to break any more, so he hung them up back on their racks and ambled over to the starboard deck to check the net there. It was almost full, brimming with silvery-blue fish that struggled to escape their fate. Mixed in with them were a few larger fish with flame-red scales and some long, skinny green ones.

_Hmph. Mostly Sky Sardis. I'd better sell these in Nasr, then, _he thought, rather disappointed and quite irritated. _There ain't a market for 'em in Mid Ocean._

It was a long sail to Nasr, though. And if he wanted a good price for his fish, he couldn't sell them in Nasrad, where he would have a lot more competition. He'd have to go the long route and take an escort ship through the stone reefs to Maramba or Shaiid.

_Bah! What a waste of fuel. Damned well better be worth it!_

Then again, there _was_ Valua. Very few edible species of fish lived in the area, and most of their supply came through Nasrad -- at a steep price. The country was filthy rich, not like it mattered to them, but the lower class citizens would no doubt be searching for a bargain. If he knocked the market price down a few gold pieces, there was a possibility that he could get a better profit there than in Nasr. Still, he hated Valua, and it was risky. True, he had a passport in through the main gates, but it was one he had stolen, and he was on quite a few Valuan wanted lists for air piracy.

Grunting at his options, he grabbed a rope and began to haul the fish net in. There was no use for him to keep it out if all he was catching was Sardis. When it was at last safely on board and stowed away, he checked the other one. It was halfway full, mainly of the same creatures, but some jellyfish had been snared as well. Now _those_ had value!

Looking up ahead, he saw a large school of Red Dragon fish flying his way. Red Dragons! They rarely came up from Deep Sky! If they continued on their current course, they would fly right into his net. It was perfect. With the sale of a school that large, he wouldn't have to go fishing for moons. Finally, he'd have time to continue on his mission.

Leaning over the deck, the old man waited as the thick school drew tantalizingly nearer. There would be just enough room for them in the net too, he figured, with perhaps some to spare. But something wasn't right...

Then he realized what was bothering him. The clouds below him rippled, then shifted. Suddenly they began to stir as if being cut through with a massive knife. A large dorsal fin slowly rose from the mist, easily larger than the ship. It was purple, and laced with golden latticework.

His heart pounded and his eye went wide as a massive creature abruptly lurched up from the cloud depths, barely missing his ship. With a deep, hauntingly melodic cry that shook every timber of the vessel, it opened its maw wide and swallowed the entire school of Red Dragons in one gulp. It "splashed" back down beneath the cloud cover, then rose again, continuing on its aimless path.

There was no creature in the world larger than it was. It was an Arcwhale, but one of titanic proportions. This Arcwhale was an abomination, a monster; it was mutated into some sort of gracefully deadly beast that had been his arch enemy for so long. Its tough purple hide glittered with ice droplets in its wake as its powerful tail propelled it onward. From its blowhole there trailed a faint violet glow, and unlike other Arcwhales, a strange golden pattern formed an intricate lattice across its entire body. Most Arcwhales had lavender eyes; this one had eyes of a blood red, and teeth easily as long as his ship. It was a living legend, a sea monster that haunted the tales of many a sailor.

"RHAKNAM!!!!" he roared furiously after the Arcwhale, shaking his good fist at it. "Why do you torment me so, you accursed beast?! Today you breathe your last!"

Snarling, the old man whirled about and ran back towards the bridge of his ship. Rhaknam already had a head start on him; he'd need full power to catch up.

* * *

A thick fog had fallen around Pirate Isle. Aika was unnerved, repeatedly reminding Vyse that fog was very uncommon in the area and that he should slow down, but Vyse loved danger and continued to sail _Horatio_ along at a high speed. But after a while, something was carried to them on the moist, cold air: the scent of smoke, and gunpowder.

"...It's coming from the south," Vyse decided, after many moments of deliberating. "...Where Pirate Isle is..."

"Do you think Cap'n Dyne's involved?" she asked, eyes full of concern.

"Mm." Vyse bit his lower lip, leaning over the railing of the skiff. "He has to be. I'm sure he can hold his own, especially on his home turf."

"What if it was Alfonso? What if he came back for Fina?" Aika asked.

"Alfonso?" Vyse started to laugh. "If that's the case, there's nothing to worry about! Alfonso couldn't destroy the broad side of a barn with his ships!"

Aika smiled, leaning against the rail beside him. "Haha, you're right."

But another hour of sailing brought to them something new. Through the thick fog there emerged a dull orange glow, straight ahead of them. Soon, they could see far enough ahead to realize that something was terribly wrong. There were no buildings on Pirate Isle. There were no docks, no houses, no sheds, and no windmill. The entire topside was ablaze.

Vyse's heart stopped beating. He couldn't believe what he was looking at.

"No...n-no..."

"That...can't be..." Aika whispered, breathlessly. "How...? Who...?"

In stunned silence, the two sailed closer. There was no activity on the topside, none whatsoever; no houses, but no bodies, either. Atop Lookout Island, a red flag waved in the wind, the only thing that hadn't been ruined. No, Vyse realized, it was brand new. It was the flag of Valua.

Fearing the worst, Vyse sailed lower, towards the entrance of the underground port. It was wide open, and inside, on the bottom of the harbor, was the smoldering wreckage of what could only be the _Albatross_. Heart pounding, he docked _Horatio_ against the harbor door and sprung out, leaving the moonstone inside for the moment. There were many more important things to deal with.

"Mother! Mooothhheeerrr! Dad? Briggs? Anyone!" he called, voice echoing throughout the empty cavern. Nothing.

But suddenly, there was life. Women began to crawl out from various hiding places, all dirty and disheveled, torn and tear-streaked. They were weary-looking; many held weapons that belonged to their husbands, and had them at the ready. But when they saw who it was running towards them, they broke into sobs of relief.

"Vyse! Oh, Vyse!" A woman emerged from the crowd, overwhelmed. She collapsed at his feet, and he knelt down to hold her, concerned. He recognized her as the wife of Patch, one of his father's deckhands.

"Jessica! What's wrong? Where's Patch and my father?"

"Go...go see your mother...she's worried sick about you..." Jessica replied, between sobs. "Please...go see her."

Vyse looked back, seeing Aika had come up behind him. She bit her bottom lip and nodded at him.

"I'll go see her right now, Jessica," he assured the distraught woman. "Where is she?"

"I-in the Captain's office...she'll explain everything..."

Vyse nodded and began to hurry towards the third tier, where his father had his office built. All the village women and children seemed to be around and unharmed...but there was no sign of any of his father's men. He could only imagine what had happened.

When the both of them had reached the office, Vyse slowly opened the door and cautiously peeked in. His mother was there in the Captain's chair, sobbing softly into Pow's fur. The Huskra was curled up in her lap worriedly, occasionally letting out a whine of concern. When he saw Vyse enter, he sprung from her lap and ran over to him excitedly.

"Pow! Pow pow!"

Vyse's mother lifted her head slowly, but when she saw her son standing in the doorway she cried out with relief and ran over to him.

"Vyse! Oh thank the moons you're alright!" she wailed, sobbing into his shoulder.

"Mother! Mother, what happened?" Vyse asked, completely overwhelmed. "Where's father and the others? What happened to our base?"

"The...the Valuans came..." she replied, trembling at the thought. "They found us..but...but it wasn't just any fleet that came our way. It was...it was Lord Galcian..."

"Galcian? The commander of the Valuan Armada?" Vyse was aghast.

His mother nodded. "They attacked with no warning...the entire village is destroyed. Your father fought bravely to get everyone to safety, but...but...Galcian had the island surrounded. There was no escape. He...your father...he surrendered so there wouldn't be any casualties. The women and children were spared, but...the men...they're all gone. The Valuans took them all away. A-and Fina..."

"Fina! Where is she?" A sudden wave of dread washed over Vyse.

"I'm sorry, Vyse...they took her, too..."

Aika gasped. "In Valua, the punishment for piracy is death! Fina will be executed along with everybody else!"

"We...we can't let that happen." Vyse clenched his teeth together, feeling his stomach churn into knots.

"But what _can_ we do, Vyse?" Aika asked, at a loss.

"What do you think we're gonna do?!" he replied, whirling around to face her. "We're going to Valua and we're going to save everybody! Dad, Fina, and all our men...they're coming home!"

"Are you serious...?" His mother looked horrified.

"Mom. We can't let things end like this," Vyse replied, seriously. "As long as I'm alive, Dad and the others still have a chance. I know it won't be easy to rescue them, but it's not impossible! I have to give them a chance! And I will!"

"Acting fast and rushing in are two entirely different things..." she replied, after a moment. "That's what your father always said. Please, you two...stay here the night, and formulate a basis for a plan. After that...tomorrow...I'll allow you to set out."

"You will?" Vyse was genuinely surprised. "Mother!"

"Just...be careful, Vyse..." She gazed up at him with teary eyes. "I don't want to lose you, too..."

The next morning came all too soon. It was early when Vyse and Aika got up, but the fog had thickened and made things darker -- almost appropriately so. Vyse sat in his makeshift bed in his father's office, staring down at the handkerchief Fina had given him..

_This is all my fault...I got her caught up in this mess..._ he thought, sadly. _I'll never, ever forgive myself if they hurt her...!_

"Okay, Vyse. I'm ready." Aika was standing in the doorway, grimly, her messenger bag slung around her shoulders again. "Lindsi said we had to promise to come back...heh..."

Vyse attempted a smile. "It's a promise, then." With that, he stood, slinging his own pack around his shoulders, and carefully tucking the handkerchief away into his tunic. "Let's go."

"What's that?" Aika asked, blinking. "Where'd you get that frilly thing?"

"Oh...Fina gave it to me yesterday..." Vyse replied, a little bashfully. "I'm...not sure why, exactly. But I'll hold on to it for her. Now let's go."

She followed him out in contemplative silence.

The goodbyes were both tearful and hopeful as Vyse and Aika boarded their skiff. Each woman had something for them. They were small items, most of it money, but it would be helpful over the coming moons nevertheless. It took three weeks in itself to sail to Valua, and he hoped he could make it in time before the entire Blue Storm was prosecuted.

Vyse was quick to cast off, not because he was in a hurry, but because the grim scene depressed him immensely. _Horatio_ was airborne in no time and then they were gone, Pirate Isle disappearing into the fog behind them. Together, the two friends sat in silence on the deck of the ship, leaning back-to-back against each other. Vyse continued to stare at Fina's handkerchief, overwhelmed with sadness, anger, frustration, and a myriad of other conflicting feelings. He couldn't believe that any of this was real. Over and over, he expected himself to wake up at any moment and find himself back in his home, in his room, with Pow curled up at the foot of his bed...

"...Hey, Vyse?" Aika asked, after a long, long while.

"Yeah?"

"...Do you...do you really think we can do this?" she replied. "We're...not exactly seasoned fighters, you know. And...and they say the Valuan Grand Fortress is impregnable. I don't doubt that's where they took everyone. The capitol...it's called Madera, right?...that's where all criminals go."

"We're not criminals, dammit!" Vyse said, pounding a fist against the wooden deck. "We're Blue Rogues! There's a huge difference!"

"Not to Valua," Aika said, quietly.

He sighed. "You're right. A pirate is a pirate..."

More time passed in silence. An hour flew by, then two, then three. The fog grew ever thicker and soon Vyse couldn't see anything past the bow of the ship. He stood and peered over the edge, but there was absolutely nothing in sight.

"I'm going to go reduce the speed..." Aika said, after a moment. "It's too dangerous to sail so fast in fog this thick. And if we're not careful, we'll crash right in to that island over there."

"Eh?" Vyse blinked. "What island?"

"The one right in front of your nose, dummy." Aika pointed to his right at a large, dark shape emerging from the clouds.

Vyse stared at the shape. It continued to get larger and larger. Then he realized it was actually rising up from the clouds. Shocked, he stumbled back.

"Aika! That's not an island! Whatever it is, it's alive!"

"Huh? What the...?" Aika peered over the edge, then suddenly gasped. The thing was now outlined in a purple light, and they could see its red eyes through the thick mist. There was no doubt what kind of a creature it was.

"An Arcwhale?" Vyse exclaimed, shocked. "That thing's huge! I've never seen one so big before!"

"You'd better hope it doesn't see us...but...we're in a hurry!" Aika stomped her foot. "What do we do?"

"What do you think? We wouldn't stand a chance against that thing in this little boat!" Vyse replied, making a dash for the cabin. "We've gotta retreat!"

The Arcwhale bellowed and turned, so that they were sailing right towards it. Its gigantic maw opened, forming a cavern that seemed impossibly wide. Aika screamed.

"Vyse! It saw us!"

"Grab something and brace yourself!" he shouted from the cabin. "I'm going to try and outmaneuver it!"

But the Arcwhale sucked in a deep breath, and exhaled an icy blast from its maw. The ship shuddered, and bucked, and then Vyse lost his consciousness.

* * *

"Hey!" a gruff voice shouted. "Are ya gonna sleep all day? Get up!"

Vyse grunted and stirred a bit. When he opened his eyes, he was blinded by the sunlight. He pushed himself up, rubbing at his eyes and feeling quite disoriented. Funny, he couldn't remember falling asleep...

With a groan, Aika sat up beside him and shook her head. She looked a bit woozy, and was quite disheveled. Her hair had come undone and there were quite a few bruises marring her skin. Now that he thought about it, Vyse felt pretty sore, too.

"Aika...are you okay...?" he asked, hoarsely.

"Mnngh...I think so..." she replied. "Feels like I died...ugh..."

"Hmph. So you finally decided to get up. About time."

Vyse suddenly realized he didn't recognize the other voice talking to him. He rubbed at his eyes again, then looked up.

Looming in front of the both of them was a massive man who, while obviously well aged, was both densely muscled and quite intimidating. His skin was weathered, worn by years of obviously hard labor, and wrinkled fairly well around his face. His features were sharp and prominent; he had a square jaw, beaky nose, and heavy brows which shaded his dark brown eyes almost ominously. His right eye, like Vyse's, was covered in an eye patch -- but this patch was a real one. The fact that traces of a scar peeked out from under it and that he had no eyebrow growing there were indicative of the fact that the old man had, indeed, lost an eye. A thick beard and heavy mustache flowed together up into his full head of hair, which was a powder white and long enough to be pulled back into a little ponytail. He wore the simple, bland attire of a fisherman, dyed a dark green and buckled around his brawny waist with a massive brass belt. But his most distinctive feature was his right arm...

It was obvious the man had, at one point in his life, been in a very bad accident. Not only was his right eye missing, but his right arm was as well. It had been replaced by an artificially created one, an arm of bronze that was completely mechanical. It was huge, and almost drug on the ground. Vyse had never seen anything like it in his life.

"What...what's going on...?" Aika asked.

"No...wait, now I remember.." Vyse said. "There was this huge Arcwhale. It blew us off course."

"Hah! Huge Arcwhale? I been chasing that damned beastie for years." The old man jabbed a finger at him. "I had the perfect shot at 'im, but your ship got in my way! Debris from your little Junker hit my sails...I'm lucky I'm still airborne. I spent half the cursed mornin' tossin' all that crap overboard. Now I'm stuck with the two o'ya. Must be my lucky day."

Vyse's jaw dropped. "Our ship...was destroyed...?"

"Aye. Ain't nothing can survive a direct hit from that abomination. Yer lucky I saved you, boy."

Vyse stood, smiling. "So you did save us? Thank you!"

The old man looked furious. "...Thanks? Thanks, you say? Don't get fresh with me!" He cocked his artificial hand back, then punched Vyse square in the face. The rogue went tumbling back and hit the deck, clutching at his now-bleeding nose.

"Hey!" Aika sprung to her feet, fuming. "What are you doing, you rusty old man?! Vyse didn't do anything wrong!"

"Did you hear me, lass?" the man rumbled. "He ruined my shot! I been hunting Rhaknam longer than either o'ya has been alive! Don't be ignorant, I ain't got tolerance for it!"

"I'm really sorry...that you missed your shot..." Vyse mumbled, feeling rather lousy regardless of his nose. "Really...I wasn't trying to get in the way."

"Hmph. Well, I'll tell ya one thing right now," the old man replied. "This ain't a passenger ship. If yer gonna sail with me, you'll have to pull yer own weight. Got it?"

The two nodded, silently. He studied the both of them scrutinizingly, then walked past them towards the cabin. "Good. Now follow me to the bridge. There's plenty o'work to do."

Before long, Aika was swabbing the decks and mending nets and Vyse was moving heavy crates around all over the ship. It was tiny and old, a classic model that had been quite popular during the Arcwhale Run days, but it was kept in top shape and was in outstanding condition. The entire ship smelled of fish and salt, and it took a long time for Vyse to get used to it. He envied Aika, who not only was free from his kind of hard labor, but also was out on the deck in the fresh air.

"Hmph. Looks like you got more than just lubber on yer bones, boy," the old man said from the direction of the stairway. Vyse turned from where he had been pushing crates around and saw that the man had been watching him.

"Heh. My dad had me do grunt work like this on the ship all the time," he replied.

"Mmm..." The old man's cold eye studied him. "Yer an air pirate, ain't ya? What would two air pirates be doin' traveling alone?"

Vyse looked away. "We have our reasons." He hesitated, then added, "...Sir. I know this will seem awkward, but...could you...possibly...give us passage to Valua?"

"Valua, huh?" The old man cocked his good eyebrow. "Explain."

So Vyse told the old man his story, of the Valuan attack on his home, the capture of his friends and family, and the appearance of Fina. When he finished, he looked at the old man helplessly.

"And that's why we need to get there. We can't do it without a ship. Please, we need your help..."

"Hmph. Get back to work. Let me know when you're done." With that, the old man went back up the stairs and was gone.

Groaning, Vyse collapsed against his pile of crates and buried his face in his hands. "Great...I spill my guts, he keeps quiet, and then puts me right back to work. What's with this guy? I don't have time for this...but I've got no choice..."

A few minutes later, however, the old man's voice boomed from above him.

"Boy! Get up here!"

"Yessir!"

Vyse was happy to leave the backbreaking crates behind and run up the stairs to the bridge. Just like the rest of the ship, everything on the bridge was ancient and weathered too, but kept in great condition. It was a lot less cluttered up there than the rest of the ship was, and out the large windows that made up the wall over the control console, he could see Aika outside, swabbing the decks and obviously singing to herself. The old man was at the helm with his back to Vyse, quietly guiding the ship along.

"Yer a quick one, ain't ya?" he asked, without turning.

"Heh...my dad doesn't think so..." Vyse replied, rubbing at the back of his neck. "No matter what, he always says I'm late."

"Hmph. Doesn't appreciate good work when he sees it."

"Sir?"

The old man shook his head, then stepped away from the wheel and turned to look at him. "I've got a new chore for you."

"Anything, sir," Vyse replied, though he really wasn't in the mood for more strenuous labor. Still, he knew he owed a lot to the old man, and he wasn't about to complain.

"Take the helm."

Vyse couldn't help but to double take on those words. He shook his head and gawked, staring at the old man incredulously. "What?! You'll let me?"

"Heh. By the sounds of it, you know yer way around a ship," the old man replied. "I wanna see how ya sail. But if yer all talk, you'll be moving crates the rest o'the trip!"

Vyse laughed and ran forward eagerly, taking the old wheel into his hands. He gave it a few experimental twists, grinning broadly. "Wow! The wheel is so responsive! This ship must make some really tight turns. And...these gages are ancient, but they're in incredible shape! This ship is actually faster than my dad's!"

The old man's mustache quirked a little. "You ain't all talk, are ya?"

"I've picked up a lot by working on the bridge," Vyse replied, admiring the handling of the ship. "By the way...what _is_ this ship's name? And could you give me yours, while you're at it?"

"Hmph. The ship's called the _Little Jack_. And my name's Drachma McFaer," the old man replied.

"I'm Vyse Dyne, of the Blue Storm," Vyse replied, giving a smile-smirk over to him. "And your deckswabber down there is Aika Nakal."

Drachma cocked an eyebrow. "Yer Dyne's boy?"

"Do you know my father?" Vyse asked.

Drachma shook his head. "Personally? No. But there ain't a sailor in Mid Ocean who ain't heard o'im. Even as far as Valua, he's almost as infamous as Gilder the Unfettered."

"Haha...I've heard a lot about him..." Vyse replied, a little thoughtfully. "I don't think even my dad could hold a candle to Captain Gilder, though. For a Blue Rogue, he sure acts a lot like a Black Pirate."

"Aye. I don't know what the man has goin' for him, but he's got a lotta money and he's on the top o'every one o'Valua's wanted lists." Drachma shook his head.

Vyse chuckled, taking a sidelong glance at Drachma. It was then he noticed the large dagger hanging from the old man's belt. It was simple and bland, except for a stunningly bright and brand-new looking adornment of purple moonstone on the hilt. In all actuality, it looked too pure to be even moonstone. It almost seemed to be crystallized.

"...Sir. If you don't mind my asking, where did you get that dagger?" he asked.

"Hmm? Ah...it's a Nasrean antique. Ain't nothing special." Drachma paused and studied him. "You ain't looking at the actual blade, are ya?"

"Well...no..." Vyse felt rather sheepish. "It's just...the moonstone on it...I've never seen anything that refined in my life. It doesn't look like it came along with the dagger."

"S'cause it didn't," Drachma replied, shortly. "Tell me, boy, how good of a look did ya get o'Rhaknam before he knocked ya cold?"

"Uh...well, enough to know that he's not your average Arcwhale by far..." Vyse replied.

"Hah! What an understatement." Drachma drew his dagger and threw it into the wall adjacent to Vyse, so that the hilt was eye-level with him. Vyse gazed at him quizzically. "Like I told ya earlier, I been huntin' that beast longer than you been alive, boy. One day...aye, it was quite some time ago...A shard o'that pretty thing came flying off 'im when I landed a cannon shot to his head. I've no idea what it is or what it does, but ever since I got my hands on it, Rhaknam's showed up more and more. S'myS'my good luck charm, you understand me?"

"Wow..." The story in itself amazed Vyse more than the crystal shard did. "And he actually survived a shot to the head?"

Drachma grunted. "That thing's bigger than the Valuan continent. He could eat the Armada for breakfast. With hide as tough as his, it ain't easy to penetrate his defenses. One cannon shot won't do much of anythin'."

Vyse blinked. "Just why _are_ you hunting Rhaknam, anyway?"

But suddenly, Drachma turned cold. He wrenched his dagger from the wall and sheathed it, turning and heading for the stairs. "That ain't yer business, you understand me? Now keep your eyes on the sky, you idiot! And don't stop 'til we reach Sailor's Island. It's on the map."

With that, he disappeared down the stairs and was gone.

The sun was setting by the time a cluster of new islands came in to view, and by that time Vyse's legs felt ready to collapse from under him. He had been standing at the helm all day, and Drachma was yet to return, so he figured he probably shouldn't leave the wheel. Not that he minded; it was rare he ever got to sail a ship, particularly one the size of the _Albatross_ or _Little Jack_. In a way, it was nice, exhilarating even. Nothing would or could ever replace the feeling he got from being at the helm.

But now, against the radical pinks of the sky, a strong beam of orange light was beckoning to him. It was a lighthouse in the distance, where a whole swarm of other ships and boats was congregating. There was no doubt in his mind that it was, indeed, Sailor's Island. He had been there a few times with his father before, but he had never sailed there himself. It took almost a full day from Pirate Isle to reach it.

The fog had cleared long since the disappearance of Rhaknam, and once again Vyse could see for kilometers in every direction. The high-up cabin of the _Little Jack_ offered him a great vantage point, and he could see almost every corner of the ship from it. The ship itself had clearly been upgraded and reinforced several times, yet it still maintained a vintage look as compared to other models of ships. Vyse found it almost funny that _Little Jack_ was painted the same dark green as Drachma wore...but perhaps the old man had done that on purpose. A steel hull, rusted slightly with age, massive anchor, and triangular side-sails were all reminiscent of the Arcwhaling days that the ship had been originally built for. Vyse figured Drachma had the right kind of ship for hunting most Arcwhales, but it would take a Valuan Flagship to take out something like Rhaknam.

"You've been up here sailing this whole _time_?!"

Startled by the voice, Vyse turned around to see Aika staring at him incredulously.

"That's not fair! I've been working my butt off all day and you get to stand at the helm!" she whined.

"I haven't been doing this _all_ day," he told her with a little smirk as he turned to face her. "I've been doing mostly backbreaking stuff! But after a while, for whatever reason, Old Man Drachma decided to let me take the helm. So...here I am."

"Drachma? So that's his name." Aika smiled tiredly and approached him, leaning against the navigational portion of the console. "He works us half to death, but I guess he's not a bad guy. Is this his home? Sailor's Island?"

"I'm not sure. I didn't ask him," Vyse replied, turning the ship so that it would align properly with the harbor. Finding an empty dock would be interesting, he knew. "But he wanted to come here. Maybe just to get something to eat or spend the night...it is getting late, after all."

"True," she replied, gazing out at the sunset.

When at last Vyse had found an open dock and pulled the _Little Jack_ in for a landing, Drachma finally came up from below with a little money pouch attached to his belt.

"Hmph. Made good timing, boy," he observed. "Now let's get movin'. I'm starved."

The docks were bustling as they stepped off the _Little Jack_ and on to the island. Sailor's Island was a large area of trade and commerce, but in itself that was an accomplishment because it was such a small landmass to begin with. The long, skinny island was crowded with shops, inns and taverns that crept up to the very edge of the coastline itself. There was barely any room to move about any more through the narrow cobblestone streets. There was talk of expanding the town on to the adjacent, smaller islands that neighbored it, but nothing had apparently been set in stone. Nevertheless, Sailor's Island was the jewel of Meridia. Its prosperity as a trading outpost could easily rival that of Nasrad.

Merchants were running about everywhere as they left the docks and entered the main town. They swarmed in and out of shops and the Sailors' Guild, darting about their evening business recklessly. Aika looked a bit overwhelmed, and Vyse, too, felt a little uncomfortable.

_Sailing should be a carefree endeavor,_ he thought _...Not something like this_.

Drachma grunted. "Alright, whelps. If you can't find yerself a ship here, you ain't gonna find it anywhere. Good luck and all that."

"Huh?" Aika blinked. "What do you mean?"

"What, ya want me to spell it out for ya?" Drachma looked irritated. "As o'right now, we don't sail together no more, you got it?"

"What?!" Vyse was shocked. "But I thought you'd take us to Valua!"

"I never said anything like that," Drachma replied. "I'm too old to be adventurin' into a place like Madera, especially when I'm a wanted man m'self. I've gotta live so I can kill Rhaknam...that's all I exist for. Now...good-bye!"

With that, he turned on his heel and stomped away into an adjacent pub, a quaint, lively establishment called "Polly's Place".

Aika sighed. "He can't be serious...What are we supposed to do now?"

Vyse chewed his lower lip in thought, folding his arms across his chest. "...Let's search around town."

"What? You mean you're actually going to try to get another boat?" Aika asked.

"Heh. No." Vyse winked to her. "There's bound to be plenty of information about Valua in a place like this. Let's see if we can't find something that'll convince Captain Drachma to take us there."

Finding somebody to talk to was easier said than done. The din of the taverns was so great that Vyse couldn't hear himself think, let alone talk. The shops were so crowded that he had to wait in line just to get inside. People on the street were in such a hurry that they apparently thought themselves too busy to talk. Even the inn was crammed full of people who wouldn't give him the time of day. Defeated, he slumped down outside the local ship parts shop, which was empty only because it had recently closed for the night. Aika sat down beside him, looking concerned.

"There's always the Sailor's Guild..." she offered.

Vyse sighed. "Yeah...I guess I should have just gone there in the first place."

"Are ya looking for something?" A new voice asked. Vyse looked up and realized the door to the shop had opened. A quirky looking man with fluffy hair was standing there, holding some keys to lock up the shop with. "This place is sorta hectic, eh? Maybe I could help ya out."

"I won't bother you," Vyse replied, with a small smile. "You're closed. Go have dinner or something...heh, you must be starving after working in this mess all day!"

"What are ya talkin' about?" The quirky man laughed. "My sales have been so slow lately, it's painful. It's 'cause I'm outta stock of a lot of the more popular weaponry. Everyone nowadays wants something to defend themselves from the Armada with, eh?"

"But don't most of your cannons come from Valua?" Aika asked, blinking.

"Oh, yeah, yeah." The man laughed again. "They have no idea they're setting themselves up. But I tell ya what, all my main cannon sales have gone to crap ever since they created that new gadget of theirs."

"What new gadget?" Vyse asked, slowly.

"Oh moons, you'll never believe this, eh?" The merchant looked excited. "They call it the Harpoon Cannon. It's this huuuuuge harpoon ya mount on the front of your ship. Real handy gizmos, they are. No need to worry about reloading ammo, and they've got enough power to drill through small islands! Hoo!"

Aika elbowed him and grinned broadly. He knew what she was thinking.

"And you say Valua makes them?" Vyse asked.

"Oh, yeah." The merchant waved a hand. "Madera's mass-producin' them or something. There's a huge dock down in Lower City where you can get 'em real cheap. About 9,000 gold, I think. A lotta people try to get in through the Grand Fortress to get their hands on one, but without a passport, it's useless." He chuckled. "I'll see if I can't get a shipment in myself."

"I see...that's quite interesting." Vyse grinned and stood, tugging Aika up as well. "Thanks for the chat. My friend and I are going to get something to eat now...take care!"

"You too, eh?" the merchant called, with a toothy grin and a friendly wave.

"What are the chances?" Aika said with a laugh when they had left the shop behind. "That was a stroke of pure and total luck!"

"I just hope the Captain has a Valuan passport..." Vyse replied, rolling his eyes. "Moons, I bet it's hard to get one of those."

"Well, you know what a true Blue Rogue would say," Aika said, winking. "What you don't have, take!"

"Taking a passport would be selfish, Aika," Vyse replied. "I bet most people who have them are merchants. We'd be ruining their business if we stole one."

"Well...it's a thought..."

It took them a little while to find Polly's Place again. Many of the buildings on the island looked similar, and it was easy to get turned around in the crowds milling about. But when at last they found it, they were greeted by mouth-watering smells and hearty laughter. People were drinking, dancing, and playing seafaring music. The general cheer in the large, warmly-lit room was heartening after such a depressing two days that Vyse found himself wanting to dance as well. He began to sway to the music, but Aika was quick to tug him aside.

"I found the Cap'n already," she said with a giggle. "He's the biggest guy in the whole place, even without the arm!"

Sure enough, Drachma was sitting at the bar, downing a huge mug of loqua. He was chatting with a large, rather plump woman with red hair and pouty lips who was clothed in a tight pink dress.

"Cap'n Drachma!" Aika called.

With a grunt, Drachma swiveled around on his barstool and stared down at her.

"We don't sail together no more. Therefore, I ain't your 'Captain,'" he said.

"Really? Ah, damn. That's too bad." Vyse shook his head. "I guess you won't get to see Valua's new harpoon cannon up close, then. You know, Aika, the one that can destroy islands? Well, c'mon. Let's go find ourselves a new ship."

Drachma growled and pounded his artificial fist against the countertop. "Are you tryin' to bargain with me, boy?!" he roared.

Vyse smirked, folding his arms across his chest. "Well, since you put it so eloquently...yeah."

"You know, I've heard some Valuan soldiers talking about that," the red-haired woman said, leaning her elbows on the countertop. "They stopped in here about a week ago and were going on about it. I guess it was actually developed by one of the Valuan admirals and really can take out small islands."

Drachma looked back over his shoulder at her. "Polly...I hope you ain't pullin' my leg and takin' their side."

Polly took on an expression of mock offense and put her hands on her broad hips. "_When_, Drachma, have I _ever_ lied to you?" she asked, winking. She then gestured to Vyse and Aika, with a smile. "I've been in this tavern for twenty years, and if there's one thing I can spot, it's cheats and liars. These kids are neither...you can tell by the look in their eyes."

Drachma sighed and fell silent, casting his eyes down. Beside him, Vyse could feel Aika holding her breath.

"...Very well," Drachma said at last, closing his eye. "I'll take you to Valua."

"Yaaay!" Aika began to literally bounce around, releasing all of her unease at once. "Thank you, Cap'n! Thank you!"

"I've got a passport we can use...but we can't go in there lookin' like a trio o'air pirates. We'll have to disguise ourselves as Nasr fishermen, you understand? They know me, but they don't know my ship. It ain't registered nowhere."

"Nasr fishermen?" Aika stopped mid-bounce and blinked. "Do you have any Nasrean clothing?"

"Nope." Drachma grunted, then stroked his beard thoughtfully. "But it shouldn't be too hard to find a Nasr merchant here. We can bargain with one o'them."

"Check the Sailor's Guild," Polly suggested. "They're usually in there looking for translators."

"S'alright. I know Nasrean well enough," Drachma said. "Still, it's a start." He paused and slid a few gold coins across the counter to her. "Food's as good as always."

She waved a hand at him, grinning. "Get outta here before I call security. Go on!"

Drachma stood and led the both of them back outside and across the street to the Sailor's Guild. Surprisingly enough, it was quiet and peaceful inside, almost like a library of some sort. There were, however, many Nasrean merchants about, thumbing through different books and papers and murmuring between each other in their native desert language.

Vyse had never actually been to Nasr before, let alone seen a desert, but his mother had always told him tales of the endless sands composing her homeland. Some of the more traditional garb she had brought from home was still packed away in their own house, and now Vyse realized there was a distinct flavor to it. He could see the similarities in the styles that the merchants wore and the clothing that his mother had kept.

Drachma approached the front desk and leaned across it, to where a middle-aged man, obviously the guild master, was sitting and reading a book on navigation. He looked up at Drachma and adjusted his monocle.

"May I help you?"

Drachma gestured behind himself with his head. "Any o'them clothing merchants?" he asked.

"That little man to your left is," the guild master replied, pointing with his book at a small, shriveled old man in the corner. "His name is Ikhar and he sells clothing and armor. Was just on his way out."

Drachma grunted what Vyse assumed was a thanks and turned to approach the old man. The two began quietly conversing in a language neither he nor Aika understood, so he turned and wandered off, letting them be for the moment.

"C'mere, check this out," Aika said, beckoning him over to a nearby wall. "Look at all these wanted posters! There's a separate wall just for the bounties posted by Valua!"

"Heh. Look, there's Dad." There was something about seeing his father's sketch up on the wall that struck Vyse as funny. "And...that must be Captain Gilder. Drachma was talking about him earlier."

"And there's Drachma himself!" Aika blinked, looking a bit startled. "Wow...he wasn't kidding when he said he was wanted, was he?"

"'One-Armed Drachma,'" Vyse read, blinking as well. "I guess he really is a pirate and not just a fisherman. But I've never heard of a pirate working alone..."

"Oh, I think he can take care of himself pretty well..." Aika smirked a bit, crossing her arms as she continued looking at the rest of the bounties. "'Calamity Clara?' 'Lone Wolf Lawrence?' I don't recognize any of these other people. They're all Blue Rogues!"

"Of course. Blue Rogues cause the Valuans the most trouble," Vyse replied. He pointed to the other wall. "Those are individual bounties. See? They're all Black Pirates."

"Heh, you're right." Aika peered at some of them. "'Baltor the Blackbearded.' 'Rupee of the Larso Clan'. Hey, these are some pretty good prices. Maybe we should take up bounty hunting, Vyse."

"Haha...you're kidding, right?" he replied, face faulting.

"Hey, boy!" Drachma beckoned to him, and he returned to the old captain's side with Aika. "Ikhar has a proposition for us. It's yer men we're savin', so you tell me what you think. He says he'll give us two sets o' clothes for free if we escort 'im to Nasrad. One is Nasrean fisher wear, and the other is upper class Valuan attire. Dependin' on who we run into, that could come in handy. But we gotta escort 'im to Nasrad first."

"I don't know where Nasrad is..." Vyse replied, sheepishly.

Drachma said something to the merchant, who smiled and pulled a rolled up piece of paper out of his belt. Drachma unrolled it against a table and pointed to a long, narrow blotch on the map.

"This is where we are right now," he explained. "Sailor's Isle. Directly north o'us is Madera and their damned Grand Fortress." He pointed to the map accordingly. "Over here, almost directly east--" and he slid his finger across the map to a landmass colored yellow "--Is Nasr territory. This big island here is Nasrad."

"That's...really far out of the way..." Vyse mused. "Did he say how long it takes him to sail from Nasrad to Valua? From Pirate Isle to Madera is three weeks..."

There was a quick exchange between Drachma and the merchant.

"Half a moon's time," Drachma replied, after a moment.

"Then we'll be two weeks behind the Armada," Aika said. "If they attacked Pirate Isle yesterday, they're only a few hours ahead of us on their way back to Valua."

"Hmph. No Valuan in their right mind would give an air pirate a speedy trial," Drachma added. "Dyne'll be sittin' in prison for at least that amount o'time."

"Then we'll do it," Vyse said, clenching his fists. "All this will be in vain if we die, too. We can't underestimate Valua, especially while we're running around her capitol. Captain, tell him we'll do it."

"Heh. Yer a bold one, ain't ya, boy?" Nevertheless, Drachma turned and once again began to converse with the merchant.


	5. Guns and Butter

The afternoon sun was a blinding glare in the sky. Now, to the north, the blood-red orb of the Red Moon shone brightly, seeming to ripple with heat. It almost made Vyse uncomfortable, to sail in a sky without a Silver Moon. Nevertheless, he loved the new sights passing around him, and was glued to the window as he steered the ship along.

"You're like a kid in a candy store," Aika remarked as she came up from below. In her wake came the spicy scent of seafood, and Vyse looked over his shoulder at her to see her walking up with a tray piled with various dishes. She set it down on the cluster of crates the three of them had turned into a makeshift table and began settling them around it.

"Lunchtime already?" Vyse asked, a little surprised. "It feels like we've only been sailing for a couple hours."

"Time flies when you're having fun, I guess," Aika replied, a bit wryly. "Moons...it's so hot out there. I probably could have fried all this on the deck. I just about died in the kitchen cooking all this over the fire. I hope at least that Cap'n Drachma likes it."

"What am I likin'?" the old man asked gruffly as he came up from below, brushing his hands off. "Argh...with the sun beatin' down like it is, I've had to throw blue moonstones into the engine to cool it off like you wouldn't believe. Damn thing's so old, but 'least it serves me well." He grunted, then sniffed at the air experimentally. "Hmm...spicy dishes today, eh lass?"

"I thought it would suit the occasion," Aika replied, grinning. "Most Nasrean dishes are spicy, and since you said we're so close to Nasrad, I thought we should celebrate."

"Hmph. Never miss an opportunity to be bright 'n cheery, do ya?" Drachma grumbled. Nevertheless, he pulled up a barrel and scooted up to the table, forking up a large mouthful of the meal she had prepared. After a long moment of silence, he rumbled to her, "Needs more curry...but not too bad, lass."

Aika beamed. "C'mon, Vyse! Join us!"

"Oh no, he ain't," Drachma interrupted. "Don't ever take yer hands off the wheel while the ship is sailin'. Wait 'til I'm done, then you can eat."

"That's fine." Vyse smirked. "More sailing for me!"

"Wow...sand everywhere. I've never seen so much sand in my life..." Aika remarked, after swallowing a mouthful of food. "It must get everywhere...in your shoes, in your houses...in body parts you didn't even know you had..."

"Aika!" Vyse was shocked.

Drachma smirked. "You sure are full o'it, lass."

"Still, I wonder how they find water out here..." she continued, with a little giggle. "I mean, can you dig a well in all that sand?"

"The desert is a very different place," Drachma said, waggling a fork at her. "Water only appears in certain places...and how it does so to begin with, ain't nobody knows. They're called oasises...they're pools of water that are nice 'n shaded 'n everythin', right there in the middle o'nowhere. Ain't a city in Nasr that's not built near one o'em."

"Pools of water? That come from sand?" She blinked.

"Aye." Drachma paused to scoop up more food. "The heat can play strange tricks on ya, though. If yer walkin' through the desert, on foot...sometimes, you'll think ya see an oasis, but you can walk towards it all day and never reach it. That's 'cause it ain't real. They call it a mirage. Many a good sailor's been duped by 'em."

"Hah. No mirage will ever trick me," Vyse replied, confidently. "I know the difference between water and sand!"

Drachma tossed a spoon at him. "Not when yer dyin' o'thirst, ya don't! Keep yer cockiness to yerself, it's spoilin' my meal."

"Yes, sir. Sorry."

"You know, I never could figure it out..." Aika said, after a moment. "Why exactly did the old merchant want us to escort him to Nasrad anyway? Isn't Nasrad heavily guarded?"

"Nasrad's guarded," Drachma said, "but the route over to it ain't. This place's prime pickin's for Black Pirate scum."

"Why would Black Pirates come out this far?" Vyse asked. "Isn't this a little too close to Valua for their liking?"

"Hmph. Makes no difference to them, as long as they get themselves easy loot." Drachma shook his head.

But in the distance, something dark caught Vyse's attention. His eyes widened.

"Uhm, Captain...how strong is the _Little Jack_?" he asked.

"What d'ya mean, boy?" Drachma asked.

"I mean...hull armor. Can it survive a direct hit from a main cannon?"

Drachma scowled. "'Course it can! I've made it so the _Little Jack_ can take on Rhaknam. Don't be foolish, boy."

"Well, that's good. If we've got good speed and defense, we won't have to worry too much about our offense."

"What _are_ you talking about?" Aika asked, blinking.

Vyse pointed out the window at the broad black shape creeping out from behind a large sand dune. "Black Pirates," he replied.

"What?!" She sputtered out her drink. "No way!"

"Hmph. Figures _he'd_ show up." Drachma rose to his feet and stomped over to the window, peering out at it. "I can't see much from here, but I'm pretty sure that ship's the _Blackbeard_."

"Baltor's ship?" Vyse asked.

"Aye," Drachma confirmed. "His crew greatly outnumbers us...so we'd better sail on ahead and intercept 'im. We'll need to take 'im out in aerial combat before he gets on board the merchant ship."

"Sounds good to me..." Vyse smirked. "Increasing speed."

"Put it at maximum," Drachma ordered.

"Aye aye."

"Cap'n, how will we combat them?" Aika asked, concerned. "There's six cannons out on deck and only three of us. And _one_ of us needs to be steering the ship..."

"Heh. How do you think I fought Rhaknam with six cannons an' only one o'me?" Drachma asked instead.

"Good point..." Aika grinned, sheepishly. "So how _did_ you do it?"

"If it's one thing the Valuans know how to do, it's fight," Drachma replied, gruffly. He came up alongside Vyse and removed a panel from the wall, revealing a series of small levers. He removed a panel from the opposite wall, and one from the ceiling as well, setting them all aside. Similar gadgetry was behind each. "You been on battleships before. They don't fire their cannons from a cannon room like regular sailors do. They fire 'em from the bridge."

"So you shot them all from the bridge, too!" Aika grinned. "I'm impressed!"

"I met a man on Sailor's Island one day who was an ex-Valuan soldier," Drachma explained. "He set all this crap up for me. It's crude compared to what Valua's got, but it's invaluable when yer fightin' alone. I'll show you how to work the gadgetry, lass. Boy, you continue steerin' the ship. Use _Little Jack_'s speed to our advantage, got it?"

"Aye, Captain," he replied.

"Aika, lass, you man the levers," Drachma commanded, pointing to the panel to Vyse's right. "Those control the secondary cannons on the starboard side o'the ship. The ones on yer left control the secondary cannons to port. Leave the ropes on the roof to me. They control the main cannons and they ain't easy to fire. It takes a lotta strength to pull 'em cause nothin' here's electrified as it is with them Valuans."

"Which way do I pull them to fire?" Aika asked.

"Down to fire, up to reload," Drachma replied. "Right now they're all loaded, but make sure you reload 'em after each shot. An' don't fire the same one twice in a row or it might overheat."

"Aye aye!"

"Captain, he's getting close," Vyse warned. "They've brought out the cannons and raised a red flag...they don't take prisoners, apparently."

"Humph! Good, 'cause we won't be givin'em the chance to take any anyway," Drachma replied.

"One, two, three, four...how many cannons does that ship _have_?" Aika's eyes went wide.

"Heh...enough to miss us with," Vyse replied. "I'm increasing our altitude. Here we go."

"Watch 'im carefully, boy," Drachma said. "If he looks ready to fire, take evasive action."

Vyse's heart was racing. He had been in many ship battles before on the _Albatross_, but had never actually participated in one himself, let alone steer the ship in the midst of the chaos. His dad was always at the helm, and the gunners manned the cannons below, but this was different entirely. Still, he was eager to see how well three sailors in a tiny whaling vessel would be able to take on a whole crew of Black Pirates in a large, fortified ship.

The _Blackbeard_ pulled up alongside them and was quick to fire the first shot. Vyse kept his distance, however, and was able to raise the _Little Jack_ out of the way in time. Drachma ordered him to tilt it to port so he could pull off a counterattack. He complied, and Drachma yanked hard on one of the ropes dangling from the ceiling. The ship shuddered as the middle portside cannon fired in a cloud of moonstone dust and gunpowder. They missed as well.

"Whoa!" Vyse remarked. "That's some firepower you've got, Captain!"

"These cannons're made to fell Arcwhales in one shot," he replied. "They can splinter a wooden ship like 'at one."

"Vyse! To starboard!" Aika called.

"I know, I see him," Vyse replied, making a hard turn. "He'll never catch the _Little Jack_!"

"Tilt down again, boy," Drachma ordered. "Gimme clearance for another shot. Aika, take the secondary cannons."

"Aye aye, Cap'n."

Too late. Baltor had been waiting for them to attack. The _Blackbeard_ fired just as they did and it resulted in a mutual hit. Vyse struggled to keep his footing as the ship jolted beneath him. Aika stumbled into the table, knocking the dishes over and sending food splattering against the back window.

"Damage report, boy!"

"Looks like a dent in the hull, but nothing breached," Vyse replied. "Damage is minor."

"An' the Blackies?"

"Your shot missed, Captain, but Aika hit. They've turned their starboard side to us, so she must have breached," Vyse said.

"Hmph. Not bad, lass. That better not be beginners' luck."

"Haha, we'll see," Aika replied.

An explosion of fire and smoke erupted from the stern of the ship a moment later. Something went shooting into the sky, but the ship itself didn't seem to be aflame.

"Whoa!" Vyse exclaimed. "What in the six moons was that?"

"Interesting. He's got torpedoes," Drachma said.

"What's a torpedo?" Aika asked.

"S'new type of weapon developed by Nasr," he explained. "You shoot 'em up into the air ahead of yer enemies and they'll fall down onto the ships from above."

"Ships are defenseless from above." Vyse blinked. "That's...an ingenious weapon."

"Well, then get outta its way!" Drachma yelled.

Vyse jumped and turned the ship hard to the left, barely avoiding the torpedoes. Simultaneously, Drachma took a shot and landed a hit to the _Blackbeard_'s bow. Aika followed up, but missed.

"I want some torpedoes," she said.

"Later," Drachma grunted.

"Just how long does he plan to keep up this little dance?" Vyse asked, incredulously. "We're just circling each other."

"Hmph. He must be tryin' to get behind us," Drachma replied. "Most ships' engines're in the back, and we ain't no different."

"We'll be even _more_ vulnerable from there," Aika said, blinking.

"...But I bet he won't be expecting us to get behind him instead," Vyse added.

Drachma paused and stared at him. "...What did you just say, boy?"

"I said we should get behind him...sir."

Again, the old man blinked. "You surprise me. Perhaps you ain't as dimwitted to battle as you let on. Go on, get behind 'im."

Vyse was caught off guard by that remark, but he hurried to comply. Taking advantage of the _Little Jack_'s speed, he turned so he was sailing on a head-on-collision course with the _Blackbeard_. At the last minute, he pulled to the side and passed it up, but they wasted no time in blasting the _Little Jack_. The ship shuddered violently beneath them, once again knocking Aika off her feet.

"Damage report, boy!" Drachma ordered.

"Ah...we've been breached!" Vyse replied. "Breach on the starboard side! They hit the galley."

"Guns and butter. Bah! Hurry up and tail 'im, boy. Don't worry about the damage."

"Aye aye."

Vyse turned hard as the _Blackbeard_ continued on ahead. Such a feat was nothing for the _Little Jack_, which managed to nearly turn on a wingtip, and before long they were chasing Baltor and his crew in circles from behind. It was clear the Black Pirates were trying hard to turn the tables, but Vyse gradually increased their speed to prevent them from doing so. Before long, they were almost nose-to-tail with the enemy ship.

"Not so fast, boy," Drachma warned. "If they pull a sudden stop, we'll be right up their ass, and that don't bode too well for us _or_ the _Little Jack_. Lass, ready the secondaries to port. On my word, boy, do a hard turn to starboard and we'll take a shot at 'em. Give it all ya got!"

"All three cannons loaded," Aika said, after a moment.

"I'm countin' on ya, lass. Boy, ya ready?"

"Aye, Captain."

"Wait 'til he straightens out a bit...then turn us and suspend the pectoral fins so we slow down."

"The _Albatross_ didn't have movable pectoral fins," Vyse replied. "What suspends them?"

"The bronze crank to yer right." Drachma sounded a little irritated. Vyse supposed he couldn't blame him. After all, now wasn't exactly the best of times to be learning how to fly a ship. "Shift it to the middle an' lock it."

Vyse nodded, then waited anxiously, his eyes glued to the black and gold painted ship ahead of them. It wove a path back and forth to try and shake them, but the _Little Jack_ was more agile and kept up with ease. When at last the _Blackbeard_ ceased it's obviously useless evasive action and straightened out, Vyse couldn't help but to grin eagerly.

"Hold on tight!" he warned, then flung the wheel to the side and jammed the pectoral crank to the right.

In a move startlingly agile for a ship of any kind, the _Little Jack_ swung to the side and began to slide towards the stern of the _Blackbeard_. Taking his cue, Drachma yanked hard on the ropes suspended from the roof, and the entire ship shivered beneath the tremendous firepower of the main cannons. Aika scrambled to follow suit, flipping the secondary levers down, and a chorus of smaller blasts echoed the main cannons' roar. Many of the shots missed, as the _Little Jack_ was still moving forward, but a large explosion of moonstone dust and wood splinters, followed by a blossom of flame, ensured that at least one of the cannonballs had found its mark.

"Damage report, boy," Drachma ordered.

"Moonstone dust and flame, Captain," Vyse replied. "I believe we hit the engine."

"We hit _one_ engine," the old man corrected, coming up to the window to survey the damage himself. Nevertheless, he looked thoroughly satisfied. "Most newer ships nowadays have two engines; one to keep 'em hoverin', and one to propel 'em forward if the wind ain't good. My engine does both, but the ship lacks power. Ain't no way I could sail into a strong enough headwind or nothin'."

"Look! They're retreating!" Aika exclaimed with a grin.

"Aye. We didn't knock out their hover engine."

"Should we pursue and attack, Cap'n?" she asked.

Drachma was about to reply, however, when Vyse turned to look at her and shook his head. "No...if we attack them while they're weak and helpless like that...we'll be no better than Black Pirates ourselves. They may be scum, but they're humans, too."

Drachma grunted and whacked him upside the head with his artificial hand. "What did I tell ya?! Don't take yer hands off the wheel while the ship's still in motion!"

"Yeah, Vyse," Aika replied, slyly. "You're lucky Cap'n Drachma's here to keep you in line."

Vyse scowled at her, rubbing sorely at the back of his head. "Aika...you little..."

But she only laughed, holding her arms out to the side. "Aw, c'mon guys, lighten up! We just defeated Baltor the Scary. The merchant's safe, right? So we can finally head off to Valua!"

"Aye. True, that..." Drachma confirmed, after a moment. "Lass, you take the wheel. Boy, you get down into the galley and start fixin' that breach. I'll go negotiate with the merchant so we can get outta here."

"I can sail? Really?" Aika beamed and quickly shoved Vyse aside, taking the wheel excitedly. "Yay! I'm vice-captain now!"

"I should be Vyse-captain by default..." Vyse murmured. Aika giggled, catching his pun.

Drachma shook his head, then turned and headed for the stairs that went below deck. But before descending, he paused and looked back at the two of them. "Hey, boy."

"Captain?" Vyse asked.

"Heh...you done good," the old man replied, then disappeared below.

"Wow..." Aika was shocked. "He...actually complimented you..."

Drachma's words continued to ring through Vyse's head hours later as he stood in the galley with a repair kit and some spare wood that was kept on board. He was such a tough old man, with one giant vendetta for whatever reason. Vyse concluded that Rhaknam must have had something to do with Drachma's missing eye and arm -- he could see no other reason why the old man would hunt the Arcwhale so fervently. Arcwhales only lived for thirty years. Could he have been chasing Rhaknam for that long?

In any case, it was clear to him that Drachma had been alone for a very, very long time. The old man seemed to hate people and society in general, and he did, indeed, tend to keep to himself. His smirking at Aika earlier in the afternoon had been the first time Vyse had ever actually seen the grizzled captain show any hint of emotion, and he was yet to see Drachma smile. Vyse had a bad feeling that Drachma had more than just his handicapped state looming over his white-haired head.

Vyse had had a difficult time trying to move the offending cannonball out of the galley, but instead of tossing it overboard as he had with the rest of the debris, he decided to save it and add it to Drachma's own supply. It would take more than a measly repair kit and Vyse's intuition to fix the damage the massive iron ball had done, but at least it was a start. When he grew fatigued, Vyse would sit down and watch the clouds pass through the hole in the wall, even though the air that blew in through it was almost chokingly hot. His mind began to wander, and he started to think of his home, of his captured companions, and of Fina.

"Are you daydreaming? What would the Cap'n say?"

Vyse looked back over his shoulder and almost choked. Aika was wearing a red outfit that was even skimpier than her normal one.

"What in the six moons is _that_?" he asked, feeling his face grow hot.

"It's a Nasrean fisher woman's outfit," she replied, obliviously. "I changed into this since I was burning up. Cap'n Drachma got all the costumes from the merchant as promised, so I decided I might as well wear it more than once. It's only a couple weeks to Valua now, you know."

"I see. What did the Captain say about the outfit?"

"I dunno." Aika shrugged. "He was mumbling something to himself as usual. But he took the wheel for me, so I came down here to see how you were doing. Do you need any help?"

"Yeah, maybe," Vyse replied, looking back out towards the sky. "It's tiring work. They did more damage than I realized."

"Haha...don't be a weenie," she teased.

"I'm not. It's just...been a long couple of weeks, I guess." Vyse flopped onto his back, sprawling out on the floor and staring up at the roof. "I've been wondering how everyone is doing."

"You too, hmm?" Aika had grown uncharacteristically quiet again, and she sat beside him, folding her knees up to her chest. "I don't think there's much reason to worry. Cap'n Dyne and the others can take care of themselves without a problem."

"That won't stop them from being executed," Vyse replied. "They can't take on the entire Madera Guard."

"True," Aika said. "I guess it's a good thing we're giving them a chance, huh?"

"Heh...everyone deserves a chance," Vyse answered, smiling a little. "Even the Valuans. I'm willing to bet they're not all bad."

Aika smiled. "I hope not."


	6. Unlikely Alies

Valua was a place that Fina decided she didn't like at all. It was forever dark, shrouded perpetually in black storm clouds courtesy of the magnetic yellow moon. Seeing the moon itself was rare, for those clouds never seemed to part. It rained constantly, and thunder storms ravaged the countryside. Nevertheless, she supposed, Valua had its charm.

Lights were everywhere. The entire city of Madera was a city of breathtakingly beautiful lights. Formed around a circular bay, Madera shone in rays of gold and silver -- a sight nearly sacred to her and her people. Gigantic craggy mountains, completely impassible, rose up behind the city and into the clouds above, but some houses actually scaled the gentler slopes, dotting the hillside with charming beauty. Rising up in the center of it all was the enormous Imperial Palace, a silver structure decorated in lights of pinks, purples, reds, yellows and blues. It towered above any other building in Madera, and was truly a work of art. It was to this massive masterpiece that Fina was brought when at last Galcian's ship fleet had arrived in Valua.

The palace was a labyrinth of hallways and rooms. It almost seemed to have no end. There wasn't a corner of the castle that wasn't lavishly decorated or adorned with rare artwork or gemstones. Just as frequent as all the gaudy embellishments were Royal Guards; one couldn't turn a corner without a guard being there. No matter where she went, somebody seemed to be watching her.

Despite all this, Fina was still given better treatment than the air pirates and was placed within an isolated stateroom in the palace. Ramirez had apparently disappeared with Lord Galcian, and she hadn't seen or spoken to either of them since being captured. She wondered still about Ramirez, and wished she had a chance to see his face, but he had vanished by the time she recovered from the attack.

Fina grew lonelier and lonelier with each passing day. Nobody came into her room except to give her a meal. The only entertainment she had was the thousands of books lining the walls and the little bracelet that strove to keep her company. Eventually, it tired of sharing her loneliness and unwound itself from her wrist, inflating into a small creature about the size of her head. The floating silver ball was little more than a mouth with two tiny, beady black eyes, fins, and a curly tail, but it was clear it was smart. Back home, they were known as Apis.

"Cupil!" Fina giggled, reaching out for the tiny creature. "Are you alright? You've been curled up there for weeks."

Cupil squeaked and cuddled against her cheek. He couldn't vocalize any form of response, but instead used the form of communication preferred by her people: telepathy.

_Fina! Fina! Don't be lonely, I'm here._

"I know you are." She smiled and stroked his rubbery skin fondly. "You must be starving. Would you like to share my meal with me?"

_What are you eating?_ he asked, curiously. _Everything in this room looks good to eat._

"Nonono!" Fina was quick to reply, eyes going wide. "You can't eat this! It belongs to other people!"

_Oh._

"It's okay." She offered her plate up to him. "I'm...not sure exactly what it is, but...it's pretty tasty."

Cupil sniffed at it experimentally. _Are we in Valua? Is this Valuan food?_

"Yes...yes, we are," she replied. "It's...some sort of vegetable soup...and...and meat."

Cupil blinked, then opened his mouth wide and swallowed the entire platter whole.

_You're right. It is quite good._

"Cupil!" Fina began to fret, springing to her feet. "You can't eat the dishes, those don't belong to us! Spit those out!"

_Okay. Sorry._

Obligingly, the Apis spat out the platter and bowl that the food had come in, returning to a much smaller size. He seemed to be grinning up at her.

"You can be so naughty sometimes..." Fina chided gently, gathering up the plates and silverware and trying to put them in some sort of order. "Try to behave yourself while we're here. Please?"

_Of course, Fina_, he replied, snuggling against her again. But suddenly he squeaked and wrapped back around her wrist. _Someone comes!_

"Hmm?"

Fina turned just in time for the door to open.

A boy stepped through. No...he was caught somewhere between a boy and a man, but he seemed to be about her age. His features were delicate and gentle enough to be compared to those of her people; she had never seen so beautiful a man, and yet he still looked obviously male. His eyes were stunning, by far his most charming feature. She had been shocked to see Vyse and Aika with brown eyes, but his eyes were a stormy blue, clouded with hints of silvers and golds. His hair was a bit on the long side, a rich honey-gold that swept back in one continuous flow, with some of his long, unruly bangs left to tumble into his face. His skin was a pale, lily-white color just as hers was, completing his noble appearance. He wore a simple black bodysuit that disappeared into a pair of armor-plaited boots and over which he had buckled a white fencing vest. A violet beret, accented by a yellow feather, crowned his golden head. Fastened around his skinny shoulders with an elaborately decorated bronze clasp was a short purple cape.

"_Habla Valuan?_" he asked, with a shy smile, "or should I just speak Meridian?"

"I can speak both..." she replied in Meridian, equally as shy.

He smiled, closing the door behind him. "I'm sorry, I guess I should have knocked. I hope you don't mind."

That caught Fina completely off guard. He was apologizing to her? "No, no, it's quite fine. Nobody else knocks."

"I was afraid of that..." He looked apologetic again, then gestured to a spot next to where she was sitting on her bed. "May I?"

"Uhm...y-yes..." she stammered.

Nodding, he took a seat beside her and then offered her a hand. It was covered in a pure white glove. Fina didn't understand this hand thing, so she just stared at it blankly. He laughed. "You must not shake hands where you come from, do you? Forgive me." Instead, he placed a hand over his chest. "My name is Enrique Valdez. You are...Fina? Is that correct?"

"Y-yes, I am Fina." She bowed her head a bit. "I'm sorry, I don't know what hand shaking is."

"It's alright. I can show you." Enrique held out his hand again. "In this world, this is how we greet each other. You grasp each other's right hands like this, and then shake. See?"

"That's it? That's your greeting?" Fina blinked. "It's...it's so simple. Informal, even."

"Well...we have some fancier greetings for those who have very high ranks," Enrique replied, smiling. "But shaking hands is so much simpler. Why should it matter how you say hello to somebody, as long as it's sincere?"

"That...that is very true," she replied, smiling as well.

Enrique chuckled. "Anyway, I came to see how you were doing. To tell you the truth, I really don't like how they've been treating you, keeping you locked up in this room all day."

"Well...it is quite lonely..." Fina admitted, clasping her hands in her lap and staring down at them, "...but everyone has been treating me well enough."

"Well enough is no good." Enrique shook his head. "They should be treating you as a guest of honor. I tried to convince my mother of that, but she wouldn't listen, so...I'm afraid you're stuck like this; at least until she decides she wants to talk to you. I'm very sorry."

"It's alright..." Fina was finding it easy to warm up to him. He was immensely kind, and almost overwhelmingly polite. The people of her homeland would have loved him, she knew. "Uhm...who is your mother? Why won't she let me out of my room? Did I do something bad?"

Enrique laughed. "Not at all! But...well, you see...Fina, who rules your people, where you come from? Do you have a King and Queen?"

Fina blinked. "No. Those were common in the Old World, but my people have never had a King and Queen. Instead, we're ruled by a council of five Elders, who are overseen by a High Elder."

"I see. An oligarchy." Enrique nodded. "Here in Valua, we're ruled by a monarchy, by a King and a Queen. The King here died some time ago, but the Queen still lives. The Queen is my mother...I am the crown prince of Valua."

"The Prince?" Fina's eyes went wide. She hurried to her feet and bowed deeply to him. "O-oh my. That is a very high rank indeed."

"Please, Fina, don't bow to me. I get enough of that from my servants. You are our guest." Enrique stood and gently led her back into a seat on her bed. "I strongly dislike formality."

"Impossible...that would be rude..." Fina replied. Deja vu.

"Is that a social rule of the Silvite people?" Enrique asked, with an understanding smile.

Fina gasped. "How...how do you know who we are?"

"I suppose I have a lot of explaining to do..." Enrique mused. "Very well, I'll tell you what's been happening over the past few years. Do you care to listen to my story?"

"Oh, of course!" Fina replied, nodding eagerly.

Enrique leaned back, a look of reminiscence crossing his gentle face.

"...I guess it started about ten years ago, when I was still just a little boy of eight or so. Our new officer, Ramirez, was being held prisoner for killing one of our admirals in a fit of rage."

Fina blinked.

Enrique bit his bottom lip. "Granted, the admiral was not a very good man, but Ramirez was a low ranking officer and had no reason to kill him. He tried to pass it off as an air pirate attack, but later we found out that the only air pirates in the area were a band of Blue Rogues, and...well...as much as this country hates Blue Rogues, they have never once killed a Valuan soldier. We knew Ramirez had done it. He was going to be put on trial and likely executed.

"But Lord Galcian thought Ramirez deserved another chance. He fought in Ramirez's defense, proving that the admiral he had killed, Admiral Mendosa, had been deceiving my mother and stealing some of her money from our mines in Ixa'Taka. Of course my mother was enraged by this, and immediately set Ramirez free. All of the sudden, his actions were seen as chivalrous and Lord Galcian took him in as his vice captain. Things were fine for a while.

"Then...oh, last year...Ramirez apparently said a lot of things to Galcian that got him real excited. He met with my mother to tell her of these astounding tales he had been told. I was there at the meeting...it was just the four of us, Galcian, Ramirez, my mother and I.

"None of us knew where Ramirez had come from. He was shipwrecked when the Armada found him, and I think that's how Admiral Mendoza came to take him in. But on that day, he decided to tell us. He spun a story that surpassed our imaginations...he told of a city high up in the sky, where descendants of one of the Old World civilizations still lived. He spoke of the astounding technology and knowledge of these people, who called themselves the Silvites and who worshiped the Silver Moon...technology and knowledge that made everything in this country seem obsolete, ancient. Ramirez said that had been his home."

Fina felt her heart flutter in her chest. She stared at Enrique with wide eyes. "I...I can't believe it. It really is him."

"Him?" Enrique asked. "Him who?"

"Ramirez..." She wrapped her arms around herself. "His real name is Ramir. He's...he's my older brother!"

"Your brother?" Enrique blinked. "Wow, I...I didn't..."

"What...what happened?" Fina asked instead, interrupting. "I can't believe he told you all that. We were forbidden to..."

"Initially my mother didn't believe him," Enrique replied. "But then Galcian took her to the Grand Fortress and showed her the ship Ramirez had arrived in. That ship alone was more than enough to prove that Ramirez had been telling the truth. I still remember it...how incredibly advanced it was...it took my breath away." He shook his head.

"What happened then...?" she asked, carefully.

"Ramirez said he wanted to thank my mother for not putting him on trial and sparing his life. He said, in return, he would share with her the ancient and forbidden knowledge of his people that would grant her astounding power, the power to rule the entire world..."

Fina gasped. "Not...not the..."

Enrique nodded gravely. "The Moon Crystals. Ancient relics of the Old World, sealed away in temples across the land. Each crystal, he said, controlled an ancient guardian called a Gigas...a living weapon of mass destruction more powerful than any ship that could ever be built. I hated the sound of it, but my mother was absolutely thrilled at this news. She decided she had to have the Moon Crystals and the Gigas they controlled, no matter what the cost. She said it was Valua's destiny to span the entire world."

Fina was dismayed. "No...oh no..."

"Ramirez admitted that he had no idea where all of the Moon Crystals were, but he said he knew somebody who did, a priestess-in-training of the Silver Temple. His original mission when he came here had been to collect these very same crystals, but after he didn't return home, he was sure his people would send down this priestess in his stead. Somehow, he knew exactly when and where she was going to be, at what time. And...then we found you, Fina."

"Enrique...I...I was sent here to stop your mother from doing this..." Fina replied, horrified.

"No. I understand." Enrique reached out and patted one of her hands, smiling. "To tell you the truth...I don't want her taking over the world any more than you do. And believe me, I'm trying everything within my power to stop it!" He drooped then, shaking his head and shuffling over to one of the windows in the room overlooking the golden half of the city. He stared out of it, sadly. "Unfortunately...I don't seem to have too much power. My mother seems to cancel out every order I give. Galcian is my subordinate, but she listens to him more than she ever listens to me. I wish she'd give my ideas a chance for once, but she just passes them off as...as weakness."

"Well...maybe I can help..." Fina offered, coming up beside him. "I...I learned something from the people I was staying with, before Galcian came to get me. Those people...they said to never give up. I-I think that's a good thing to believe in. Perhaps your mother will listen to me because I am Ramir...Ramirez's sister. Perhaps she will listen to the both of us."

"Hey...it's worth a try." Enrique brightened up again. "You're right...it _is_ worth a try. I do wish to give this country and its people a chance." He smiled at her warmly. She giggled and smiled back. "But Fina...Galcian said you had been abducted by air pirates."

"Abducted?" Fina's eyes went wide. "No! T-they saved me! They said somebody was trying to kidnap me, and the young man...Vyse, he...he saved me. And everybody was so nice. They gave me a place to stay, and they fed me warm meals, and they let me play with the children. I-I really enjoyed my stay there. They...they were Blue Rogues..."

"I had a feeling." Enrique smiled again, then turned and began to study one of the many bookcases in the room. "Well, in that case, would you like to take a look around the city with me, Fina? I'm not much of a fighter, but I am a good fencer...I can protect you, but I doubt anybody would bother us in the first place."

Fina clasped her hands over her chest. "Am...am I allowed to leave this room?"

Enrique chuckled. "Likely not. But I promise I will take the blame if we're caught. Actually, this is the reason I came here in the first place." He turned to face her, eyes dancing. "I've felt real bad for you, being locked up as you are. So I came to take you sightseeing, if you don't mind. When I was younger, I used to be a real curious lad...so now I know every secret passage that's in this castle." He beamed.

Fina laughed, concealing it behind a dainty hand. "You act a lot like Vyse. I think you'd make a good air pirate, too."

"An interesting compliment," Enrique remarked, pushing back the bookcase. On the other side was a dimly lit passageway. He offered her a hand. "If you aren't afraid of the dark, come with me. I assure you, there's nothing dangerous."

* * *

"All those spotlights...they must not want anything to get past."

Aika looked a little afraid as the _Little Jack_ drew close to a structure of titanic proportions. It was the largest manmade object any of them had ever seen, spanning a gap between a ring of mountains for easily fifteen leagues. Even more impressive than its breadth was its height; it was as high as the mountains themselves, and went disappearing into the upper cloud layer. The giant fortress was fortified many times over with stone and steel, and looked to be miles thick. A gigantic lock gate, easily two miles in diameter, was the only way in or out. Surrounding it were stationary turrets mounted on smaller islands nearby, and ironclad battleships patrolled the area like wild felines on the prowl. Giant spotlights mounted on the wall nearby the gate shone in random directions, illuminating every ship within the area for as far as the eye could see.

"They call it the Grand Fortress. It's likely the greatest structure ever built in the New World," Drachma said. "Twenty years ago, in the Valua-Nasr war, the entire Nasrean navy bombarded this place for days on end with cannon fire. They got nowhere."

"It certainly _sounds_ impregnable..." Vyse remarked. "Maybe they were just going about their attack formation all wrong.

"Hmph. Don't matter." Drachma shook his head. "Madera's surrounded by impassable mountains. The whole damn city's a fortress. This gate is the only way in or out of Madera, and they only open it once daily to let ships pass through."

"Captain...we're being approached..." Vyse said. "A Valuan cruiser is headed this way. It looks like they're preparing to board."

"They'll be comin' to check our passport," Drachma replied. "Bring the ship to a stop and drop anchor to show that we ain't a threat. We'll need to meet the soldiers out on deck."

The three had changed into their disguises that morning. Drachma had taken great care to remove his false arm and hide it somewhere within the ship's engine, lest they be searched. He said the only way Valua knew him was by his arm -- so without it, keeping his injury beneath the folds of a Nasrean robe, the soldiers wouldn't give him a second thought. Vyse and Aika were easier to camouflage, being unknown to the Valuan government in the first place, and wore considerably less clothing. Aika's two-piece outfit still made Vyse uncomfortable.

Vyse dropped anchor and then followed the two out on deck. By the time he got there, a trio of armed Valuan soldiers had already boarded and were waiting for them.

"Show us your passport," they ordered, not even bothering to attempt Nasrean.

"I got de passport, here here," Vyse replied, faking a Nasrean accent as he held it out. "See see, we feesh, got de feesh."

The lead soldier took it and scanned everything over real quick, then handed it back a moment later. "Everything's in order. Don't cause trouble, you ragheads."

"We feesh good!" Vyse called, waving after them with a ridiculously large grin. The three of them watched the ship pull away before going back inside. "Gah...this fake mustache itches..."

"Stow it," Drachma replied.

"Don't worry. We can change once we're inside the fortress," Aika said.

"Now for the fun part. Waiting." Vyse sighed. "When does this crag open, Captain?"

"I ain't got a clue," the old man grunted. "They change the time every moon. Idiots are so paranoid about bein' attacked..."

"Uhm...you guys..." Aika said, waving to get their attention, "it's opening."

"Huh?" Vyse blinked, then returned to the wheel, frantically cranking the anchor back up. "Sheesh, they wait until I'm not paying attention to open it..."

Watching the gargantuan gate open was something else entirely. Vyse almost found himself holding his breath as the hexagonal lock spun around on its central axis slowly, causing the entire wall to shake. He had no idea how they got a wall, well over a hundred feet thick, to turn in the first place. Nevertheless, after pivoting 180 degrees, it stopped, revealing that, on the other side of the door, there were about thirty cannons easily larger than their ship.

"What?!" Vyse exclaimed.

"The Grand Fortress is offense and defense all in one," Drachma explained. "Those cannons're worth more than the entire Valuan Armada fleet. They're slow t'fire an' reload, but they got devastating fire power...next to impossible to evade them. It was those cannons that nearly wiped out the entire Nasr navy."

"I can see why..." Vyse said, as he began to steer the _Little Jack_ towards the new opening. It was like steering the vessel straight into Rhaknam's gaping maw. "I'd heard Valua had extremely advanced technology, but this was beyond my imagination."

"They don't use most moonstones no more," Drachma replied. "'Cept for yellow ones. Somehow, all their engines, all their machinery...it's all powered by the electricity in the yellow moonstones. That's how they make things so strong, or so they say."

"Electricity? To power engines?" Aika blinked.

"Aye. It ain't just that," Drachma said in response. "Electricity powers the whole damn city. It gives 'em light, an' heat, an' just about anything else you could imagine."

"That's..._hard_ to imagine, though..." Vyse replied.

Drachma only grunted.

The halfway open state of the lock divided the gateway into two channels: one for incoming traffic, and one for outgoing traffic. Both flowed like a river through the manmade canal that, like everything else, had been reinforced multiple times with steel. Various holes, big enough for even the largest Valuan battleship to pass through, were set apart at regular intervals throughout the channel, leading deeper into the fortress into what was presumably the harbors and docks. Sailing through the channel itself took a good twenty minutes, and in doing so, Vyse realized just how immensely thick the Grand Fortress was. No modern army, no modern naval fleet could ever hope to bring it down.

And then, they were in Half-Moon Bay, the bay around which Madera had been founded. Just the sight of the city was enough to take his breath away. He had never seen a settlement so large, so brightly lit. In awe, he forgot to keep the _Little Jack_ accelerating and brought it to a standstill as he stared at the city forming a crescent of silver and golden light before him.

"This...this is..."

"Beautiful..." Aika finished for him, breathless.

"Heh. From afar? You bet." Drachma sauntered over, tapping at the window. "Lookit all those golden lights on the left hand shore. Pretty, ain't they? That's Upper City. Every moon-forsaken aristocrat in Valua lives there, and only them aristocrats can live there. It's full of so much gaudy bullshit that it makes me wanna puke. I seen paintings of it before, and no way would I ever submit myself to the torture of livin' in that place."

"So what about the right hand shore?" Aika asked.

"To the right, it's just the opposite," Drachma replied. Now he tapped the glass against the other half of the city, illuminated by silver light. "Slums. Ghettos. There ain't no middle class in Madera. That place over there is called Lower City, and it ain't no more than a dump with houses built around it. The poorest of the poor live there. All of Valua's impoverished, homeless, bankrupt...they're brought there as a 'service' by the government to work and have housing. It's just an excuse to make 'em build battleships all day. Both sides abhor each other."

"That's awful...forcing them to live in poverty like that..." Aika frowned deeply.

"Where do we land, Captain?" Vyse asked.

"Lower City," he replied, heading for the stairs. "There's a dock there that sells ship parts o'er the black market. I try t'be an honest man, but in Valua...well. We'll get our cannon there. C'mon, whelps. Land the ship and then go change."

"Aye aye," Vyse said.

Vyse and Aika were all too happy to change back into their regular outfits, and Vyse was ready to pitch his phony Nasrean mustache overboard. Drachma took the longest to change, presumably as he had to refasten his arm, but when he was done he met the two of them out on the dock.

"I spoke with the parts dealer here," Drachma said, gruffly. "He's got the perfect harpoon cannon t'fit the _Little Jack_. It'll take the rest o'the day for 'im to install it, and most o'the night too. I'm gonna stay here to oversee the job, so what I want ya both to do is explore the city an' try to find an inn or somethin' where we can stay the night." He paused, then lowered his voice. "And try t'figure out where they might be keepin' yer father, boy. It'll save us a crapload o'trouble."

"Heh. I know that. I'm one step ahead of you." Vyse grinned. "Where should we meet?"

"Hmm. They got clocks 'round here. Meet me back here at six, got it? That should give ya plenty o'time to get the layout of this dump."

"Sounds good to me." Vyse gave him a mock-salute. "See you later, Captain."

"Get outta here, whelps."

"He's not going to ditch us like he did last time, will he...?" Aika asked, when they were out of Drachma's earshot. They walked down a corridor and into a main street of the city, which wasn't very active at the moment.

Vyse shook his head. "No, I trust him. We've been together for a long time now, and I think he's taken a liking to us. He won't leave. You know how I know?"

"How?" she asked.

Vyse grinned over at her. "He said 'our' cannon. Not his cannon, _our_ cannon. That means he's accepted us as a part of his crew."

"I totally missed that." Aika laughed. "You're right! He must have!"

It felt like the dead of night. The ebony clouds overhead shut out all sunlight, and only occasionally did the radiance of the yellow moon filter through, bathing the darkened streets in muted, almost dirty goldenrod colors. Pollution was everywhere. Garbage lined the streets, and was in every corner. The entire city smelled of refuse. Moss, grime, rust and decay scaled every building and every street lamp, crumbling railings and slickening staircases. The houses looked more like shacks; many had broken windows and collapsing roofs. Water seeped out from many drains and gutters, and occasionally from the foundations of a few buildings. If the wind shifted, it would bring on it the acrid, sulfurous scent of liquid steel.

Littering the streets almost as much as garbage were people, dirty, ragged, downtrodden people who looked sickly and emaciated. They skulked in the shadows, and though Vyse couldn't always see them, he could feel their cold eyes on his body, watching him, envious of his healthy state. They huddled around fires started in old steel drums, gambled illegally in alleyways, and stood selling themselves on the corner. Many a woman beckoned to Vyse; Aika gave one of them a bloody nose.

He shook his head.

They turned a corner. Mangy stray animals, Huskras and Maus and rats, were rummaging through the garbage on the street and brawling with each other. The former often chased the latter up a pole or onto a rooftop somewhere. People shuffled about the streets like dirty, walking corpses, moving without any hint of life. They drifted, aimlessly, through the shadows as if they had already been doing so for an eternity.

"...This is depressing..." Aika said, at last. "I wish we could do something to help all these people."

"I know. If I had the money...I'd free each one of them from this misery," Vyse replied. "Maybe there's a clinic around here or something. Or a school, or an orphanage. The people there need money the most, I'm sure. It won't be much, but we can give them what we have between the two of us. The Captain will understand, he's technically a Blue Rogue, too."

"So where exactly are we supposed to be going?" she asked. "He said to look for an inn, right? This place is pretty big...I'm not sure if we'll find anything by sundown."

"Heh...there's no sun _to_ go down," he said.

She elbowed him. "Let's just ask for directions. Someone around here will know."

"What? Directions?!" Vyse stared at her. "No way, I refuse to ask for directions. That takes the fun out of exploring."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a guy."

He eyed her, slyly. "I could say the same for you."

"Grr...come here!" she shouted, lunging for him. He laughed and ran down the street.

Such a sound was obviously foreign to the city, because as they laughed and chased each other, people stopped dead in their tracks and just stared. At one point, a man stopped them and pulled them aside, face intense.

"What in the name of the six moons are you doing?!" he asked, with wide eyes.

"What?" Vyse asked. "We're just having a little fun."

"Fun? _Fun_?!" The man looked incredulous. "They must have recently brought you folks in. You'll learn fast enough..._nothing_ is fun here."

"We're not Valuans," Aika replied. "We're just visiting."

"Then don't let the guards hear you say that," he said, waggling a finger in her face. "There ain't many around here, but they don't like anything changing in this city. You'd better watch your back, or they'll throw you in jail for no reason whatsoever!" With that, he whirled around and left.

"...I wonder what that was all about," Aika said.

"I guess we'd better be a little more careful, or we'll find out soon enough," Vyse replied. "C'mon, let's keep going."

As much as he expected it, nobody out on the street begged Vyse for money. He figured they must have assumed he had no money, either, dressed as he was. Still, he couldn't fight the feeling of rebelliousness and anger swelling up in his chest. Why did these people allow themselves to be forced into such poverty? Why didn't they rise up, fight back for a better future? How could they just let themselves accept things as they were? He couldn't understand it, and he didn't like the idea of them giving up so easily. Perhaps he didn't feel so sympathetic towards these people after all, if they were unwilling to do anything to change their fate.

Similar emotions flickered through his head throughout the course of the day. When, at last, he was tired and thirsty, he looked around for a tavern and led Aika to it. He reached for the door, eager to sit down, but was stopped when a pebble hit him in the back of the head.

Vyse whirled around. A kid of about eleven years old was there across the street from him, leaning back against a garbage container. Sticking out so obviously from his pocket was a homemade slingshot.

He took a second look at the kid. He was a little big for his age, and though he looked weathered and worn, as if he had been around a while and seen it all, he wasn't nearly as emaciated as the other people of the town were. In fact, he even had a fair amount of muscle on him. His hair was a shaggy, matted mop of overgrown red, his thick eyebrows the exact same color. His face was rounded, broad, adorned with a pert snub of a nose and plenty of freckles and scars. His eyes were blue, and his scowl, which was quite large, revealed quite a few missing or rotted teeth. He wore a cream-colored shirt that was falling apart, over which was buckled a green pair of tattered overalls about two sizes too small.

"Who do you think you are?" Vyse asked, a little miffed.

"My name's Marco!" the kid replied, rather nastily. He thumped a fist against his chest. "Everybody who's anybody in this town knows who I am! Who the fuck are you?"

Aika blinked. "You've got a nasty mouth on you, for a kid."

Marco snarled. "Who are you calling a kid?! At least I don't have hair like a scarecrow!" He paused, and eyed them. "You're not from here. You look like sailors. Stupid ones, at that. Why else would anyone come to a dump like Lower City?"

"Boy, what a brat," Aika huffed. "He reminds me of a certain someone when they were a little kid."

"Hey, cut me some slack!" Vyse replied. "I wasn't this annoying when I was his age. Look, kid, we're very busy right now. We don't have any time to play your pointless, immature games."

"What?!" Marco was furious. "'ll remember this! Fools!"

Vyse rolled his eyes and went inside the tavern.

Where he came from, taverns were lively places of meeting where people could eat, drink, and overall just throw their cares away. But what Vyse found on the other side of the door was the complete opposite. He had never, ever been in a quiet tavern before. This one was filled with a dead silence. It was darker within than it was outside, and so musty that Vyse felt like sneezing each time he breathed in. Everything within the tavern was in extreme disrepair, and cobwebs hung from every corner. People were slumped in their seats, drinking themselves senseless. Behind the bar, the bartender seemed ready to do the same thing.

"Hm. You ain't regulahs here, is ya?" he asked as they approached.

"We just got in to town," Vyse replied. "Two waters are all we want, please."

The bartender lazily lifted an eyebrow. "Trust me, kiddo. You dun wanna drink da watah. You might grow tentacles or somethin'."

"There you go, Vyse." Aika elbowed him playfully. "What man doesn't want a few more tentacles?"

"Aika." Vyse rolled his eyes. "Do you have anything non-alcoholic?" he asked of the bartender.

"Whiskey."

"Whiskey isn't non-alcoholic!"

"I know." The bartender eyed the both of them. "You two is somethin' else, you know dat? We don't get charactahs like yous two in dis town."

Vyse pulled up a barstool, and Aika did the same. He could feel some people watching him again.

"Here." The bartender set two glasses of a reddish liquid in front of them. "It's the best Mur Loqua I got."

"What's the occasion?" Vyse asked, lifting an eyebrow as he took a sip.

"Heh! It's on special." The bartender turned to wipe down some of the counter. "I always got it on special, every time there's to be a fight in da coliseum."

"Fight?" Aika blinked.

"What, you mean yous two didn't come here for dat?" The bartender blinked. "What in da name of da moons yous doin' here, den?"

"...Trading," Vyse replied. "Why, what's so special about the coliseum?"

"Ah...boy, yous been deprived. Listen ta dis." The bartender leaned across the counter, grinning. "Every time da Armadah catches criminals, particularly air pirates, dey put 'um on trial. If dey done small enough crimes, dey get a swift execution. But if dey been a thorn in da Armadah's side for a long time...they're thrown in da coliseum."

"And...what happens there...?" Aika asked, cautiously.

"Well, dey put da offenders in a fight. Either dey fight guards, dangerous beasties, or uddah prisoners. Dey fight to stay alive. If dey wins, an da Empress decides she likes deir fightin', she'll let 'em stay in prison until da next time. But if she ain't impressed, dey is beheaded on da spot. If dey dies in der fight, it's der own damn fault. The whole city comes ta watch it. It's great to see uddahs in a position even worse than our own!"

"And this is tomorrow, you said?" Vyse asked. He didn't feel so thirsty anymore.

"Yep." The bartender nodded. "If it ain't outta ya way, ya ottah stay here an go see it! Dere's an inn just down da street, on da next level a'town. Yous two can stay dere da night. We's gots rail cahs that'll come by in da mornin' to pick us up an' take us ovah. Just ask da innkeepah, she'll tell ya where da station is."

"Interesting. I see." Vyse abruptly stood, sliding a whole pile of coins across the table at him. There was a general shocked whispering in the room at just the sight of all the money. "This is for the drinks, and a tip for the information. I just remembered something we need to do. Thank you very much."

They hurried out, leaving the others gawking after them.

* * *

A few hours later, Vyse found himself telling the same thing to Drachma, as both he and Aika flopped down on separate beds. The beds were dirty, and weren't much, but after sleeping in a hammock crammed into the corner of the _Little Jack_'s engine room for several weeks, Vyse wasn't about to complain. When he finished repeating all that he had learned, Drachma sat in a contemplative silence on his own bed, staring off into the distance as he thought to himself.

"...I don't doubt that's where yer father an' his crew are gonna be tomorrow," he said, at last. "But I can't think of a damned way we can safely set 'em free. I been to the coliseum before, an' it's guarded heavily 'cause the Empress oversees the battles."

"There has to be something we can do..." Aika said, a bit desperately.

"I assume the levels that the Lower City citizens watch from are guarded less heavily?" Vyse asked.

"Aye," Drachma confirmed.

"And Dad and the others will have weapons, right?"

"Aye."

"Then there's a chance." Vyse smiled. "If we can sneak past the Lower City guards...or defeat them, if we must...we can fight our way free."

"An' go where?" Drachma demanded. "Where ya gonna run to that ain't bein' guarded?"

"...Good point." Vyse drooped.

"There has to be _something_..." Aika said, burying her face in her hands.

Suddenly, Drachma grunted and jumped to his feet. Moving surprisingly agile for one of his size and age, he flung open the door to the balcony, lashed out with his artificial arm, and grabbed on to something. Vyse could hear a lot of shouting and cursing by a distinctly younger voice, and when Drachma came back in carrying Marco by the overall straps, he was shocked.

"Look what I found," the old man said, dropping the boy on the ground. "Garbage."

Vyse blinked. "What the..? Aw, no, it's that annoying kid from this afternoon."

"Who are you calling annoying, you glass-eyed freak?" Marco quipped back, in Meridian.

"Wait a minute...you speak Meridian?" Vyse had a bad feeling about that aspect.

"You bet I do," Marco replied, haughtily. "I'm not just some stupid street trash, you know. I heard and understood everything you've been talking about. Now if I was to rat on you to the guards, you'd be fighting in the coliseum too!"

"Hmph. Well, I guess we'll have to kill ya now, then," Drachma replied.

"Wah! Cap'n!" Aika ran over to him. "You can't do that! He's just a kid!"

"Pff. What does it matter?" Marco looked away, disgusted. "If I died, I don't think even the rats would miss me. I'm tired living in this stinking place."

"Good," Drachma said. "Then you have no regrets."

"Cap'n!" Aika exclaimed.

"You'd better just leave," Marco went on, voice growing quiet. "Or you'll die, too."

"You mean you weren't serious about ratting on us?" Vyse asked.

"No...I just wanted to scare you."

"Well, thanks all the same, but I'm afraid we can't just leave," Vyse replied. "Blue Rogues never give up. Especially if their friends are in trouble."

It took a moment for that to register in Marco's mind. When he looked back up at Vyse, his eyes were a little wide. "_You're_ an air pirate? _That's_ why you're trying to sneak in to the coliseum?" He burst out laughing. "Stupid! That's so stupid! It's dumb enough to sneak in there normally to free a criminal, but if you're an air pirate freeing more air pirates? Hahahahaha!"

"Can we throw him out yet?" Aika asked, face faulting and folding her arms across her chest.

But Vyse only smirked. He looked down at Marco, a challenge in his eyes. "You aren't as tough as you let on, are you?" he asked.

"Huh?" Marco stopped laughing and blinked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"You're a quitter, a coward," Vyse replied. "If you were out sailing, and you ran into a storm, I bet you'd try to turn back. 'It's too rough! I want my mommy!' is what you'd say."

Marco scowled, but it wasn't long before his anger fell away. "...W-what are you trying to say?" he asked, averting his gaze.

Vyse became serious. "Even in the midst of the worst storm, there's always a way out. I've experienced that for myself. And that's why I'm not giving up. Tomorrow, the three of us _will_ sneak in there, and we _will_ rescue our friends. If you don't believe us, come with us and see for yourself."

"I really can't convince you to turn back, can I?" Marco asked, quietly. "...I thought you were just a bunch of dumb merchants...but I guess I was wrong..."

"Bah!" Drachma rolled his eyes.

Carefully, sorely, Marco stood. He dusted himself off, then looked up at Vyse. His face had changed. He looked more his age.

"Your name is Vyse, right?" he asked.

"Right," Vyse said. "And that's Aika, and that's Drachma."

"...How much do the three of you trust a stupid little kid?"

"Huh?" Aika blinked. "What are you--"

"I know my way around this town better than anyone else does," Marco interrupted. "I know every manhole, every secret passageway, and every alley path. I also know the only safe way to sneak into the coliseum. Well...if you want to call it safe. Depends on if you fear monsters more than guards."

"What are you getting at, exactly?" Vyse asked.

"...I can take you to the coliseum," Marco replied, kicking at the floor. "If you ever suspect I'm betraying you, the old man can kill me, but I promise you I'll show you the way. A secret way."

"Sounds fair to me," Drachma said.

"I hope you don't mind sewers..."

"What?!" Aika looked at him in horror. "Sewers?!"

"Look." Marco reached into his pocket and pulled out a stick of white chalk. He then sat down on the dry wooden floorboards and began to roughly sketch a maze of some sorts. "Running beneath the whole city is a sewer system. It's the only true link between Upper City and Lower City, aside from taking a railcar. Right now, we're about here." He drew a little X near the right side of the maze. "Upper City would be in this area." He circled the left half of the maze. "The palace is here, and this is the coliseum right behind it." He marked a triangle and a circle on the top of the maze, respectively. "The sewers are actually a system of catacombs built by the Yellow Civilization in the Old World, but they were converted a long time ago. It's...where I live."

"That's...horrible..." Aika said.

"This better not be some story yer makin' up to turn us soft..." Drachma warned.

"I didn't say you had to believe me," Marco pointed out, frowning up at him. "That's your choice."

"Hmph."

"Do you know how to get to the coliseum?" Vyse asked.

"Of course. I already sketched out the path for you." Marco drew a course through the maze with his chalk, ending at the circle. "I've been everywhere in Madera, even Upper City. I go there to steal food for the people over here."

"So that's why you look so healthy..." Aika looked impressed.

"You seem very trustworthy to me, Marco," Vyse concluded, smiling down at the boy. "Will you lead us through the catacombs to the coliseum?"

"Only to here." Marco drew a line very close to the coliseum. "I can't go near what lives there."

"What lives there?" Aika asked.

"I think it used to be somebody's pet," Marco replied. "Or maybe it was a monster used by the coliseum. Whatever it was, it got all mutated after being in the sewers for so long. It's this huge...thing. I don't know what it is, but it's poisonous. I was with a whole buncha people when we first ran into it...it killed them all, easily. I was lucky to get away. I don't go near there anymore."

"Is it blocking the path to the coliseum?" Vyse asked.

Marco nodded.

"Well...fighting an animal will be a heck of a lot easier than fighting a hundred Valuan guards," Vyse replied. "You don't have to fight it, Marco, but we will."

"That'd be great!" Marco beamed. "Actually, the Prince has been trying to get rid of it for a while, but he can't get any troops down there...I don't think his mother listens to him."

"The Prince?" Aika blinked. "Why would he do that?"

"Because..." Marco looked out the window. "That monster's been poisoning the water for a very long time. I think somebody put it there on purpose."


	7. A Link From the Past

With some persuasion, Drachma allowed Marco to stay with them for the night. Vyse opted to sleep on the floor in order to allow the boy to sleep in an actual bed; he was completely overwhelmed. By the break of dawn, not that they could tell, the boy had woken them up and brought them breakfast. What he had smuggled to them confirmed that he had been telling the truth. The lavish dishes he set before them, heaping with pancakes, eggs, butter, sausage, and other tantalizing goodies, was enough to prove that he could make it to Upper City and back safely.

"It's all a little smooshed together from when I stuffed it in my bag..." he said. "I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all." Aika smiled at him. "This is wonderful, and more than enough. Thank you."

"Yeah, it doesn't matter." Vyse grinned. "It all goes the same place anyway."

"Hmph. Still don't beat Polly's cookin'."

"Cap'n, does anything make you happy?"

"No."

They ate in silence after that.

When they were finished, Marco was quick to get rid of his evidence, literally throwing the dishes out the window and over the edge of the coastline. He waited for the three of them to gather their weaponry and packs, then took the lead, taking them downstairs, where the innkeeper wouldn't be waking up for another four hours. They crept outside, as quietly as they could, and were met with a cold and rainy morning. The steady rainfall from up above made the streets glisten and seemed to seep into every corner of every house. Vyse hoped it wasn't there as a bad omen.

Taking a series of alleyways almost too narrow for Drachma to fit through, Marco wove his way towards the northern side of town, near the steel mills and shipyards. It was here he stopped near a metal plate in the ground, and wrestled with it to remove it. Vyse lent a hand, and when at last they had flung it away, it revealed a manhole beneath them with a ladder leading down into the darkness.

Aika complained a little, but they were quick to shimmy down the ladder, and Drachma used the strength in his mechanical arm to single-handedly close the manhole behind them. At the bottom, they were met with a dismal and grimy sight, a stone-lined slough through which green water ran. The most acrid and pungent of odors hung in the air, most of which Vyse didn't even want to bother to identify. He reached into his pack and produced a small moonstone lantern, placing a silver moonstone inside with the knowledge that they produced the most luminescence. Within seconds, the tunnel was illuminated with the purest white light.

Without even pausing to get his bearings, Marco took the lead, running straight ahead. It was difficult to keep up; Vyse realized his agility likely came from his years of robbing Upper City, however long that was. It was no wonder he hadn't been caught yet. Impressed by the boy's charitable nature, Vyse followed right behind, then Aika, with Drachma taking up the rear. Their footfalls echoed bluntly against the gray-blue walls, dampened by the oddly colored moss growing there.

Before long, the sewage canal dropped off abruptly, turning into the ugliest waterfall any of them had seen. Marco fumbled around in the darkness and suddenly slid down a ladder, into the grime below. Vyse and Drachma didn't hesitate to follow, but Aika did.

Luckily, beneath them was a walkway that followed the canal, just as there had been above, so none of them had to get their feet wet. The cavern forked and lead deeper into the mountainside both ways, but Marco opted for the left path, darting off again. The sewer lines were rather straightforward paths, unlike Vyse had expected, but he was grateful for that.

The cavern continued to fork and branch, but Marco seemed to be making a distinctive path that slowly zigzagged its way north. Occasionally, Vyse stopped to check his compass and confirmed that, indeed, they were headed the right way. Marco's sense of direction was impeccable.

After a while, the caverns around them became less sewer-like and more ruin-like. Eventually, the water branched off in an opposite direction and they were left in a long, open hallway, devoid of sewage and rot altogether. It was here that the true nature of the ancient structure was revealed. Intricate carvings adorned the walls, still so intact that it looked as if they had been created the day before. The style was far different from those adorning the architecture of Shrine Island, more archaic in a way, but beautiful nonetheless. Long, winding serpents, the fabled Valuan beast known as the Tartas, formed borders along the wall, leafed with gold and accented by other yellowish stones that weren't moonstone. Knot-like designs wove elaborate motifs against the wall occasionally as well, forming ornamental spirals, circles, and crosses. It seemed to go on forever.

For a little while, the path created itself for them. Soon enough, however, the catacombs began to branch off again, forming another labyrinth of tunnels. Marco took a side path and then paused as twelve more tunnels branched off from it. He paused to count them, slowly ticking off the numbers on his fingers, then vanished into the fifth corridor.

"C'mon! You're slowing down!" he called. "We've got a long way to go!"

* * *

The Royal Hall was the gaudiest part of the palace Fina was yet to see. Countless other royal guards, clad in purple armor, lined the walls of the room. The walls themselves were made from pure gold, and adorned with banners and hangings of the finest red silk. Massive bay windows provided a view of the sky, not that there was much to look at to begin with, and crystal chandeliers illuminated the lengthy room. A plush red carpet led to the throne, which was also made of solid gold and sat atop a raised platform. Perched on it was a most wicked looking woman.

She was homely, plump, not at all a figure of beauty. Her widened form looked even wider courtesy of the dress she wore, complete with a hoop skirt. She was small in stature, but used her vantage point to look down at all assembled in the room, peering down over her beaky nose with sharp brown eyes. Her face was wrinkled, drawn with age to the point where she almost began to look masculine, but she held her head high with dignity nevertheless. Her hair was hidden beneath a fluffy wig of a powdered purple, adorned with jeweled trinkets and pearls.

The dress that made her look so large was even gaudier than the room she sat within. A dark violet, it had a collar higher than her head and was buckled around her neck with an ivory broach. The gold-trimmed bodice was tight around her enormous chest, but then gave way into layers of gold and purple skirts, over which a final half-layer of red had been draped. The shoulders of the sleeves were large and puffy, but they tapered down to her wrists eventually. A fan of wispy white feathers spread out loftily from behind her, held up by a sisal sash around her waist. In her right hand, she carried an ornate gold scepter.

Enrique sat beside her on the raised platform, in a considerably smaller throne. Upon seeing her, he rose to his feet, but did nothing else.

At the foot of the platform stood a dark looking man with his head bowed low. He was a giant, easily over seven feet tall, with broad shoulders and a square face with roughly-chiseled features. Each line in his face was hard and deeply set, almost as if carved in there with a knife, and they especially outlined his cold, black eyes which shone with malice. His hair was kept short, cropped close to his scalp, and was a starkly contrasting white that faded into a beard as black as his eyes. Leading down from his dark sideburns was a short, neatly-trimmed beard that flowed into a goatee covering his prominent chin and encircling his taught, pale lips. His face was settled into so intense a posture that it looked like stone, and his overall paleness did nothing for his already unsettling appearance. His entire form was hidden beneath a heavy, billowing black cloak adorned with various medals and golden ribbons. It had to be Lord Galcian.

"Soooo..." the woman hissed, as Fina was brought in by one of the royal guards. "This is what a Silvite looks like. An interesting specimen...she's quite pretty, isn't she?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Galcian replied, still keeping his head bowed. "Originally she was captured by your nephew, who then lost her to the band of air pirates recently put on trial. I was in the area and recovered her for you."

The woman, quite clearly the Empress, chuckled. "Excellent, Galcian, excellent. You are indeed yet to fail me." With that, she cast her cruel gaze down on Fina, who remained steadfast at the foot of the platform.

"So! My son tells me your name is Fina," she said, smirking. "I suppose I should welcome you to Valua. _I_ am Empress Teodora, ruler of these lands."

Fina bowed, meekly. "...W-well met..."

Teodora went on. "One of our officers informed us of your presence, which is why we brought you here. We seek your aid in the building of a better world." She laughed at the mere thought of it. Enrique looked uncomfortable.

"Mother...is this really necessary...?" he murmured.

"Silence, Enrique!" she snapped.

Enrique sighed and bowed his head. Fina was shocked. She was even more cruel than Enrique had described!

Teodora looked back to Fina, resuming her smug expression. "Now, I would like you to give me a bit of information..." she purred. "I know there are six Moon Crystals scattered about the world, and I also know that there are ancient weapons they control. I believe your people call them...Gigas! What can you tell me of these creatures, these Gigas?"

"I can tell you that nobody should ever lay a hand on one of them," Fina replied.

"That is besides the point," Teodora said. "I am not asking you if we _should_ use them. I am telling you we _will_ use them."

"But you can't!" Fina protested. "You don't understand the power of those creatures, the utter destruction they bring!"

"Oh, but I do." Teodora smirked. "Which is precisely why Valua must have them."

"No, no you don't!" Fina was growing desperate already. This woman was completely blind. "The size of a single one of them...they're twice the size of this palace itself. Their power could crumble your Grand Fortress with a single blow. If any single one got out of hand...a whole lot of people would die!"

"Go on," Teodora coaxed. She seemed to enjoy what she was hearing.

"You don't understand!" Fina continued. "None of your ships are powerful enough to ever hope to defeat one. You...you lack the technology. The only way to bring down a Gigas is by the use of another Gigas."

"Interesting. Most interesting." Teodora laughed again, purely delighted. "Ah, Fina, you have given me much hope. You will help us to recover these Gigas, yes?"

It wasn't like her, not at all. But Fina had had enough. She was mad, furious at this woman who wouldn't listen to her after going through the trouble of bringing her here. And so, in her tiny voice, she shouted as loud as she could in the hopes that she could get the Empress to listen. "Why won't you _listen_ to me?!" she demanded. "The Gigas were the cause of the destruction of the Old World! Six great advanced civilizations fell beneath their fury! Power hungry dictators like you are the reason that they should never be touched again in the first place!"

"What did you say?!" Teodora snarled, rising to her feet. "How dare you insult me, in my own palace! Off with her head! Off with her head!"

"No, please listen--"

"Kill her!"

"Mother!" Enrique stood in her way, staring down at her. "You can't kill her, she hasn't done anything wrong!"

"How can you say that, Enrique, after she insulted me so?!" Teodora demanded.

"I believe, Your Majesty," Galcian said, speaking up at last, "that it would be prudent to keep her alive. Perhaps we need to show her our other methods of...persuasion."

Teodora seemed to like that idea. In an abrupt mood swing, she chuckled. "Ah...excellent idea, Galcian! Why, she can sit with us and have a grand view of our sporting event today!" She chuckled some more, then laughed. "Fina, allow us to show you what happens to people who do not obey us. Go to your room and freshen up. I'll send a guard to fetch you for this afternoon. We've a grand event to attend."

"Mother, you can't be serious..." Enrique all but groaned.

"I don't care if you don't like it," Teodora quipped at him. "This is essential; a good learning experience for her. Galcian!"

"Yes, Majesty."

"Prepare to dispatch the Armada. After today's events we will use Fina and the power of the Armada to retrieve the Moon Crystals. Assemble your Admirals and tell them so."

"At your will." Galcian bowed, and remained stooped over. "However, I have but one humble request."

"Yes?" she asked.

"I would like to nominate my vice captain for the position of Admiral, to take the place of your failure nephew. I have exiled him to Ixa'Taka for his cowardice, and I think Ramirez would represent Your Majesty much better in our ranks."

"Hahahaha..." Teodora was amused. "Our Armada is invincible. Signs of weakness like my nephew's need to be replaced. Very well, Galcian, I shall grant you your request. Ramirez is now commander of the First Fleet of the Valuan Armada. Make it known."

"Thank you, most gracious Empress Teodora." He bowed to her, then turned and left.

"R-Ramirez..." Fina couldn't believe it.

"Now, girl, to your chambers!" Teodora flicked a wrist at Fina, looking bored. "I want you prompt and on time for this afternoon, and looking your best at that. You will be sitting with me, after all, which in itself is the highest honor possible in this world. Put on a dress in there and wear something a little more normal. That outfit you're in is hideous."

Fina bowed her head and sighed. Her pride, in both her people and herself, had just been flattened. As the guard that had escorted her in began to take her out of the room, she looked back over shoulder at Enrique helplessly. The Prince, who had so quickly become her friend in this bleak country, mouthed to her, "I'm sorry."

* * *

"So now what?" Aika asked, as their current path branched off into eight different directions.

"I never go this way, but...we take the leftmost one," Marco replied. "It will save us some time."

"Sounds good to me," Vyse affirmed. "Go for it."

Marco nodded and ran down the hallway.

It seemed to have gotten so dark that Vyse's silver moonstone lantern couldn't light anything at all. For the longest time, all they had heard in the cavern was their own footsteps echoing off the walls and the occasional dripping of water, but now, in the distance, Vyse could hear wind, rain, and thunder. Could they have been that close to the surface?

"My head hurts..." Aika complained.

"We're pretty far down," Marco replied. "It's normal."

"Just how far down are we?" Vyse asked. "My head hurts too, but I thought we were closer to the top. I can hear wind and rain outside."

"Well...we're this far." Marco turned a corner and pointed.

Vyse gawked at what he was pointing to. Part of the floor ahead of them had crumbled away, revealing nothing but open sky beneath. Black clouds roiled and huddled together, caught in a flow of turmoil as they passed by. Lightning flashed between them, accompanied by thunder that echoed loudly throughout the hall. The wind moaned through the gaping hole at their feet, filling the cavern with a tremendous chill.

"Is that...?"

"It's the lower cloud layer," Marco affirmed. "Madera's actually on a shallow part of the continent. We're at the bottom of the city right now."

Vyse studied the hole again. It was far too large to jump over, but some pieces of the floor remained in tact over the chasm, forming a narrow walkway to the other side where the floor was once again solid.

"How sturdy is that?" Vyse asked.

"I don't know. I'm pretty light," Marco admitted. "It can support me, at least."

"That don't help us any," Drachma grunted.

"Well...we have to try," Vyse said, with determination. "We can't be cowards, especially not after coming this far. Marco, you go first, and Aika, you follow since you're the next lightest. If it can hold me up, it can probably hold the Captain."

Marco nodded. Taking advantage of his smaller size and lighter weight, he quickly shimmied over the narrow passageway, arriving safely on the other side in no time. Aika followed soon after, more slowly, but kept her balance and joined him. Then Vyse followed. Holding his breath, he stuck out his arms for balance and carefully made his way across the crumbled path. Below him, the clouds churned, as if eagerly awaiting the chance to swallow his lanky form, but his sailor's balance proved infallible yet again and at last he, too, was safe on the other side.

Then Drachma stepped out onto the platform. He had trouble moving along, and his arm seemed to be setting him off balance, but although his progress was slow the passageway held fine. But when the old man had gotten to the middle, the weakened walkway decided it could take his weight no longer, and began to crumble beneath him. He tried to run, but it broke away, casting him into the clouds below.

"CAP'N!" Aika shrieked.

Drachma had barely disappeared from sight when something shot out of the clouds. In a bronze blur, it arced through the air and latched on firmly to the side of the crumbled floor closest to them. For a moment, Vyse had no idea what was going on, but then he realized it was Drachma's mechanical hand. Peering over the edge, he saw Drachma dangling below on the end of a chain, attached to the rest of his mechanical arm. He was swearing up a storm larger than the one that was passing beneath him.

"Thank the moons..." Aika breathed.

Once he was done cursing at everything he could think of, Drachma reeled himself up and pulled himself back onto solid ground. Now Vyse understood why his arm was so awkwardly large. Inside, there was gadgetry of at least one sort.

"Captain, are you alright?" he asked.

"Hmph." Drachma was still quite irritated, and he pushed past them, continuing along. "...Ain't nothin' hurt but my pride, boy."

Vyse smiled, let out a quiet sigh of relief, and followed.

Marco fell silent the rest of the way. It was clear he felt guilty for putting Drachma in danger, even if the old man was fully capable of getting himself out of it. Vyse felt he should say something to reassure the boy, but he didn't know what. After all, crossing that pathway had been a dare. Perhaps it was for the best, saving Marco from doing the same later on, when he was older.

The hallway they were in seemed to last forever. It twisted, and turned, jogged both right and left, but never seemed to end. After navigating the catacombs for two hours, Vyse was beginning to grow tired on his feet, but he kept pushing himself, reminding himself of the peril his father, his crew, and Fina were in.

He didn't doubt his father's or the rest of the Blue Storm's abilities. They were veteran fighters, more than skilled enough to take out Valuan soldiers or a couple of dangerous beasts. Vyse wasn't sure if they could handle something like Antonio, but he had done it, so they should have been able to as well. But then...

Then there was Fina. She was so small and frail looking; there wasn't a hint of muscle anywhere on her slender body. He couldn't picture her holding a sword, or a spear, or even Aika's boomerang. No, she had absolutely no way of defending herself. If anyone was in danger of dying in the coliseum, it was her.

Now that he thought about it, Vyse figured that that was what drew him to her so much: her frail, delicate state. He felt he needed to protect her, no matter what. He wasn't that way around most girls, because most girls -- Aika in particular -- could hold their own. But Fina was different. Fina had obviously lead a very, very sheltered life up until then.

At last, the passageway came to an end, opening into a small room supported by massive archways. A long staircase led up in one direction to their left, but instead Marco went to their right. He did something to a nearby pillar that Vyse couldn't quite see, and part of the wall moved open.

"This is our escape route," Marco said. "If you can rescue everybody, bring them down the passage up there and we can hide in here. If we're followed, nobody will find us because it's not easy to open this secret door. Through here, you can get to Upper City and the Grand Fortress, or cut back the other way through the sewers to Lower City."

"Perfect," Vyse said. "So what's up the stairs, then?"

"...It." Marco looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry...but I can't go up there with you..."

"That's fine. We understand," Vyse replied, with a little smile.

Marco shifted uneasily. "...If...if you can kill it, you'll find a ladder leading up into the cellar of the coliseum. That's where they keep their prisoners and beasts locked up. I don't think anybody knows that ladder is actually there, so there might be something blocking it at the top. I know the coliseum is left over from the Old World, too, so there may be other secret doors...but I don't know of them."

"That's fine. This is more than enough to give us a chance." Vyse grinned, and gave him a thumbs up. "I'll see you soon. Wait for us, we've got a whole party coming."

Marco watched him for a bit, then returned both the grin and the thumbs up. "Alright!"

Vyse didn't know why Marco was so afraid of the whatever-it-was living upstairs, but he began to get a clue when, halfway up the stairwell, he stepped in a pool of blood. Following it with his eyes, he realized it trailed all the way up to the top of the steps, where the doorway was splattered with fresh blood as well. Some more walking, and there came a dry crunch from behind them. Drachma had stepped on a bone.

"...I don't think he's worried because this thing is poisoning the water," Aika said, at last. "I think its been claiming the lives of everyone who lives in this sewer for a very long time."

"You're probably right..." Vyse said, cautiously creeping upwards. "Keep your voice down. We have no idea what this thing is."

Quietly, they inched their way up the stairs, finding more bones as they went. Soon they were finding whole skeletons and pieces of human remains, and dried blood splattered on the wall like some grisly sort of paint. The higher up they went, the more gruesome the sight, until at last they neared the landing. Vyse could see something moving above them, something a pale and sickly color. It shuffled restlessly and burbled to itself.

"What do you suppose it is?" Aika whispered.

"Ain't gotta clue," Drachma murmured.

"Stick close together," Vyse said. "It looks pretty big. We can't let it single us out like sharks do with schools of fish. This looks like it's its home turf, so a sneak attack might be our best option."

"Get movin' then, boy," Drachma said.

Vyse nodded, and quietly began to creep up the stairs, step by step; they followed close behind him, right at his back. When at last they had gone up high enough to see over the landing, Vyse couldn't believe what he was looking at.

He had no idea what the creature was or originally had been to begin with, if anything. Its skin was horrid and pallor, a cadaverous purple-white color that looked paper-thin. Its abdomen was huge and swollen, covered in a tough-looking but perfectly transparent skin. It was full of some strange sort of liquid, in which a small bundle of human skulls floated. It sat in its den decorated with vivid splotches of blood against the walls, and was currently arranging its bed -- a rather large pile of human bones.

"That's...disgusting..." Aika groaned, wincing and looking away. "I feel like I'm sitting in a big tomb."

"Hmph. What an abomination." Drachma was disgusted, but over the creature's behavior, not the morbid sight before him. "C'mon, boy. Let's rip 'is head off."

"Wait." Vyse reached out to stop him, pointing across the room with his new sword. "...Look."

In the far corner, something had arranged the human skulls in an uncannily neat order. A strange sort of substance had hardened over the eye sockets and the other gaps within the skulls to form something that almost resembled an egg with a face.

"What's that s'posed to be?" Drachma demanded.

"Eggs..." Aika said, suddenly enlightened. "They're all eggs. That thing...it's female. It must lay eggs in human remains."

"If any of those hatch, we'll have our hands full," Drachma said. "Girl, you need to burn 'em. All o'em. Don't let a single one o'those critters live. Vyse and I will hold back the mother."

Aika nodded, and began to stealthily make her way up the stairs. Hugging the wall, she lurked in the shadows and slowly inched over to the eggs.

"Now's our cue, boy," Drachma said. "Don't want 'er gettin' hurt, do ya?"

"Of course not," Vyse replied, smirking. "I'm ready when you are. Let's go!"

Aika was halfway across the room when Drachma charged. It was as if the old man had grown forty years younger; the energy and vigor he possessed was astounding. The beast whirled around at the sudden commotion, only to find Drachma's bronze fist in her face. She shrieked and scuttled back. Vyse hurried up the stairs to back up Drachma, but the old man was holding his own. He dodged and parried with the strange creature, blocking her strikes with the sheer size of his own disability. She lunged at him and tried to push him over, but Drachma held fast and could not be moved. He pushed back against her in turn, and she struggled to hold ground against his brute strength.

"Hah! You think you can beat me, beast?!" he challenged.

Vyse watched the two of them continue to battle it out. He couldn't tell if Drachma really did need his help or not, but decided to lend a hand. He was just in time, for the beast managed to knock Drachma over by pushing herself off the wall. Her gelatinous body suddenly shifted and she shaped herself into an almost arachnid-like form, moving to impale the old man with a sharp-tipped leg.

Vyse dove in front of her before she could reach Drachma. He brought down the cutlass in his left hand just as his feet hit the floor, slashing her across the face, and brought up the blade in his offhand to strike right after. He followed up with a few more furious blows in rapid succession, effectively keeping her stunned and pinned where she stood. Green ichor splashed across him as he hacked into her, leaving a stinging, acidic burning feeling on his skin. He tried to ignore it, but it steadily grew worse and worse, until he realized it was eating through his clothes and flesh alike. Alarmed, he staggered back.

Swinging a claw, she easily knocked Vyse aside, toppling him like a pin. Drachma grabbed her leg and smashed it in his viselike grip. But she simply regrew it and continued onward, undaunted, for she had spotted something: Aika.

With a gurgle of a roar, the beast lowered her head and opened her mouth and, sensing the danger, Aika whirled around and rebounded herself off the wall. The beast belched forth a spray of a sickly green bile that splattered around where she had been standing, and she got caught up in it, falling into the oozing puddle.

Vyse was afraid it was acid. Though it didn't cause any visible damage, Aika couldn't seem to recover from it. On impulse, Vyse dashed over to her, his progress slowed by the viscous liquid. He knelt down and helped bring her to her feet, but suddenly he didn't feel too well. Aika was more or less unconscious.

The slimy bile trailed behind him as he drug Aika out of the pool. His head began to spin, and he tried to focus on Drachma as the old man fought to defend the both of them. The captain was a mere blur of green rallying against a blotch of white. Vyse attempted to stand, but the room chose that very moment to start spinning beneath him, and he collapsed beside Aika, panting.

Drachma was keeping up a steady dance with the spider-beast. She had stepped into her own puddle of goo now, but it did her no visible harm. Suddenly, Vyse felt Aika shift beside him. She stretched out her arm, grasping her key ring in her right hand.

"Moons...give...give me strength!" she choked out.

In a heartbeat, the room was ablaze. Aika had somehow lit the bile on fire, and the entire half of the room it had covered was now engulfed in flames. The hungry tongues of the blaze licked up the eggs, and consumed the beast entirely. She stumbled away from them, shrieking, in pain; Drachma brought his fist down and cleanly snapped her neck. She fell back into the fire, lifeless.

Aika collapsed again.

"Aika...get up..." Vyse murmured, though he felt like he wouldn't be able to follow his own advice, either.

"Boy, you can be so dumb sometimes. Roll over." Drachma shoved Vyse aside and reached into the pack Fina had given him. From within he withdrew two roughly crystallized shards of silver moonstone, and put one in each of their hands. "Didn't that brat warn you this thing was poisonous?"

Slowly, the fog clouding Vyse's mind disappeared. He sat up, groggily, and stared down at the gem in his hand. "...A curia crystal? That's right. Thank the moons for Fina..."

"Ughh..." Aika sat up, shaking her head in complete disorientation. "...What just happened? I feel gross." She paused, and peered down at the bile that had dried and formed a hardened crust on her skin. "Oh, disgusting!"

"Suck it up and pick it off," Drachma replied, grunting. "Boy, do you know magic?"

"Not really..." Vyse replied. "I know a spell...that's about it. If you're wondering if I can extinguish that fire, I can't."

"Hmph. We'd better hurry then. I don't know if it's going to spread, but we can't take anymore chances."


	8. Breaking the Rules

White satin, silk, and lace. Fina was wrapped up in an elegant dress that she had found to be most beautiful, complete with gloves like Enrique's and little silver shoes. She had refused to take her veil off, much to the Empress' disgruntlement, but she let it slide as a cultural taboo as the three were escorted to a place known as the coliseum. Fina recognized the stonework right away. It was ancient, a structure that had not been built by the Valuans. It was reminiscent of the Yellow Civilization.

The Empress' seat was raised high above the rest of the stadium chairs. Enrique sat beside her, but Fina was forced to stand. Below them were the citizens of Valua, ringing an arena paved with stone. In the higher up seats sat the wealthy nobles of Upper City, watching the floor with spyglasses of different sorts. On the tiers below them, forced to stand as well, were the Lower City citizens, cheering and making a bawdy ruckus. Up above them all, the clouds parted and revealed the face of the waxing Yellow Moon.

Some guards wrapped up in gold armor emerged from below, escorting a small flock of figures with them. The figures were dirty, disheveled, and bound by the hands; Fina realized that they were a part of the Blue Storm. At the lead was Dyne, being tugged along by a rope. The little party, all five of them, were placed within a circle in the center of the ring, untied, and given swords.

Teodora chuckled, leaning over to pat Enrique's knee. "I've heard they're a tough bunch," she said. "I'll need your help in judging them today."

"Is it possible to judge the life of a Rogue, mother?" Enrique asked. Fina got his meaning, but she was sure the Empress didn't.

"Hahaha! Well said, my son," Teodora replied, looking back out over the arena. "We'll see. I've got high expectations for them. They've been a thorn in my side for well over twenty years...I want to see how much of that was my own error."

"They...they're going to fight each other...?" Fina asked, clasping her hands over her chest in fear.

"Nono. Armed gladiators, in full body armor," Teodora replied, chuckling. "It will be an interesting fight, oh indeed."

"Today, we present to you, Captain Victor Dyne and his notorious band of Blue Rogues, the Blue Storm!" the executioner down below announced, standing up on a raised platform by a guillotine. The crowd roared. "The first round of battle pits the captain himself and his four officers against our top gladiators! And let us not forget, that we are graced by the presence of the most honorable, victorious, gracious and glorious Empress Teodora!" He bowed to her. The crowd cheered.

Fina began to tremble. Enrique cast her a sympathetic look.

Down below, some heavily armored men emerged from around the arena. Fina gasped.

"Th-that's not a fair fight!"

Teodora smirked. "Of course it isn't, you little wretch. Do you think we'd go easy on scum such as air pirates?"

"But they're very nice people..." Fina protested. "They took care of me..."

"Silence!" Teodora roared. "You are the most annoying twit I've ever been forced to share the company of. After this, it's back on board Galcian's ship with you! Save for your knowledge, you're worthless!"

Fina sniffed and huddled against the wall farthest from the Empress. Enrique looked mad.

Slowly, the gladiators began to advance from down below. Dyne and his crew stood back-to-back in a circle, hoping to defend each other. Fina feared the very worst; they were evenly numbered against each other, but not evenly matched. The men in armor had a distinct advantage.

And then, instead of five air pirates, there were eight.

Fina shook herself and looked twice, but the crowd was in a similar uproar. There were, indeed, eight air pirates; three had just emerged from seemingly out of nowhere. Then she realized who they were, and her heart skipped many beats: it was Vyse and Aika, in the company of a large old man. They struck out at the guards and, after a small struggle, managed to bring them down.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Teodora crowed, rising to her feet. "Where did they come from?! Kill them! Kill them all!"

Just as suddenly as Vyse, Aika, and their companion had appeared, the five other air pirates _dis_appeared. Fina couldn't believe her eyes. What magic was this, that they were weaving?

"Guards! Guards! Escort the three of us out of here, now!" Teodora ordered.

Fina wouldn't have it. She closed her eyes, felt around for the guards' minds, and squeezed hard on the essence she found there. The four guards collapsed, asleep.

_Vyse...I need to help him somehow..._ she thought. If only she could cast sleeping magic across longer distances...

Down below, it was five on three. Now Vyse, Aika, and the old man stood back-to-back-to-back, facing the guards who ran in to intervene. The crowd was loving it. The old man, who Fina realized had some sort of mechanical implement attached to his right arm, lunged forward and took on two of the gladiators by himself. Aika and Vyse ran after the remaining three.

It was an explosion of fire and a flurry of gleaming swords. One gladiator fell beneath Vyse's blade, then another. The third crumpled in a flaming heap to something Aika had done to him. The old man dispatched the other two with the iron grip of his false hand, throwing one into the other. More guards emerged and they continued their struggle, each one supporting the other. The old man was a powerhouse, able to shield Vyse and Aika while hammering their assailants. Vyse was quick and deadly, landing a succession of rapid blows that quickly felled the guards. Aika supported the two of them with what Fina could only guess was a basic form of magic, exposing their weaknesses and holding her own with fire and mending her companions' lighter wounds. It was a perfect balance, and the crowd was nearly going ballistic from all the excitement. But it wasn't to last.

The guards keeping watch over the audience left their posts to join the fray on the arena floor. More were called in from outside as well, and soon they came pouring out into the ring. Fina counted eighteen before she lost track in the chaos. They quickly surrounded the trio and began to close in all at once, sealing off all possible routes of escape. Fina had a bad feeling that Aika's magic experience wasn't enough to let her cast on multiple targets and knew they would be helpless if so. Quietly, she reached for her charm bracelet, one Ramir had given her long ago to hold moonstones of different elements. It was hidden beneath the folds of her dress, where she knew it wouldn't be seen.

She wasn't fast enough; the guards charged, and still more were coming out of the stands to fight. A gasp was all she could manage, but then something strange and unexpected occurred: from seemingly out of thin air, a multi-faceted dome of silvery green light materialized and enveloped the three where they stood. The attacks from the onslaught of guards bounced harmlessly off.

Fina looked around, trying to locate the source of the magic. Could it have been her brother, coming to their rescue? What she found herself looking at instead was Enrique, who was focused on the battle with a little too much concentration. His eyes were narrowed, and he was sweating a bit; his body did not move, and his breaths were a little shallow. No, it wasn't Ramir. Enrique had crafted the barrier.

"What is this?!" Teodora was utterly incredulous. "How can those criminals form a Justice Shield?!"

"...No idea...mother..." Enrique murmured.

Fina began to shift on on her feet anxiously as her fingers came into contact with her silver moonstone. It greeted her with a cool and soothing tingle, but it triggered in her mind a series of disturbing thoughts. Silver magic was life and death. If she tried she may have been able stop the hearts of a dozen or so soldiers with a the right incantation. But such magic was forbidden, and it hadn't actually been taught to her at the Silver Temple. As far as she knew, the spell, Eternes, was only known by the Silvite Elders for use in dire straits, but the more guards she watched pour in, the more tempting it became to attempt to use it. Enrique's shield was infallible and held fast, but Vyse, Aika, and the old man could do nothing to escape. They needed to cut a path in the guards, and she could likely do it – but those were a dozen or so lives that were largely innocent, and if it backfired she would die instead.

Pulling in a deep, frightened breath, Fina skirted over to the edge of the balcony and looked out over the arena, where the soldiers were attempting to hack their way through Enrique's shield. Her slender fingers slowly curled around the stone, but suddenly Vyse, Aika and the old man vanished, just as Dyne and his officers had. Fina gaped in surprise and then allowed herself to relax, releasing her hold on the silver charm. She could see it clearly now that nobody was standing on top of it: there was a trap door in the middle of the fighting ring. They had an escape route after all.

"Guards!" Teodora wailed. "Attend me! Escort us out at once!"

More guards finally arrived. They grabbed her by the arm and roughly shoved her down the stairs, back towards the waiting coach that would return them to the palace. As they left, she spared one last look over her shoulder at the arena, to make sure Vyse was indeed safely out of the fray. As she did so Enrique caught her gaze, and the two smiled to each other secretively.

* * *

It was more than Vyse could comprehend at once: first a sea of guards, and then an impenetrable, indestructible shield that had come from out of nowhere He didn't understand.

"Aika...did you do that...?" he asked at last, eyes wide. Even as the guards continued to pound on the translucent dome of energy, he could do naught but stand there, stunned. The crowd was going wild, overwhelmed at the display.

"...I could never cast something like this..." Aika replied, looking around at the dozens of soldiers in shock. "This...this is...I don't know who's doing this. Someone in the crowd is looking out for us."

Vyse looked around at the people surrounding them, who seemed to think that _they_ had been the ones who had pulled off such an astounding feat. They cheered, they applauded, and they tossed confetti and cheered "Blue Storm". But of all those people gathered in the crowd, not a single face looked familiar. Who was protecting them, and why?

"Boy! Let's get outta here," Drachma rumbled. "We've caused enough chaos to cover our tracks."

Vyse nodded, then knelt down and pushed in an off-colored rock in the dirt. Beneath them, a trap door opened, revealing a ladder that led down into blackness. The three were quick to slide down it, the door closing after them to create the illusion that they had vanished without a trace.

"I don't like that," Vyse was saying as they ran back down into the sewer, the fire in which was slowly spreading. "That was our battle. Somebody just jumped in."

"Not just _somebody_," Aika replied. "Somebody with a lot of power. What kind of magic was that?"

"No clue," Drachma rumbled.

Marco was anxiously waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs, holding up a torch to light the way. When he saw them and their frantic pace, he grew worried.

"What happened? Did you forget somebody? Are they chasing after us?"

"No, not yet anyway. We had a small miracle back up there." Vyse shook his head and stooped to catch his breath. "Something shielded us from the entire coliseum guard."

Marco's eyes went wide. "That's...How?"

Drachma shook his head. "We can worry about mysteries later. Where're the air pirates, kid?"

"In the next room, though the passage I opened up for you guys," Marco replied. "I'm not sure how many are in there...I can't count past ten."

Vyse nodded and hurried through.

Sure enough, doing a quick scan of faces when he entered the room, Vyse realized that the entire crew had been recovered, down to Mabel, the lone female raider. When they had first taken the ladder up into the coliseum, Aika had wandered down a side passage along the way and found the cells where the entire crew was being held on accident. After the three of them dispatched the guards in the room, they were able to free everyone and usher them towards the secret exit. Timmus, one of the gunners, had told Vyse that they had recently taken his father and his four officers out to fight, and they were quick to respond by sneaking through to the top of the passageway. Apparently, they had been just in time.

"Dad!" Vyse cried, as he ran into the room. Overwhelmed, he threw his arms around his father and hugged him tight. Dyne chuckled and wrapped him up in a fatherly embrace.

"Vyse, I always knew you were brave, but now I think you're crazy, too!" he said. The crew around them chuckled. "You're a bit late, you know. Any later and I might have been a head shorter."

"I never expected this, not in my wildest dreams..." Briggs commented, shaking his head in wonder. "Vyse...you truly are something else. I'm impressed."

"Me too," came Landis' voice from behind him. "I thought for sure I'd never see home again."

"And the loqua here is crap," Mabel added.

"Don't celebrate just yet," Aika said. "We still need to escape the Grand Fortress. We can't hide down in this dump all day."

"Let's quit talkin' and return to the _Little Jack_, then," Drachma replied, with a grunt. "I don't wanna stay here any more than you do."

"Wait...wait a minute..." A cold feeling suddenly washed through Vyse as he surveyed the crowd again. "Fina? Fina! Where are you?"

"She's not with us, Vyse..." Dyne replied, grimly. "When we were captured, they took her somewhere else. I overheard some soldiers saying that she was going to the Imperial Palace to meet with the Empress."

"_What_?!" Vyse cried.

Dyne nodded. "I don't know who she is, but she knows something important enough to have Valua after her. However..." he waggled a finger at Vyse "...You caused quite a bit of ruckus up there. Every guard in Madera will be scouring the area for you for the next couple of hours. Now is your best chance to sneak into the palace and rescue Fina. I wouldn't recommend going back the way you came...so you should probably go through Upper City to reach it."

"Upper City..." Vyse turned, peering back through the doorway to where Marco was watching them. "Marco, can you take us to Upper City?"

"Yeah..." Marco didn't seem to like the idea.

"Good." Vyse turned back to his father. "Aika and I have disguises. I'm not too worried about blending in, except after being down here all day, we might smell pretty funny..."

"Steal some perfume and _douse_ yourself in it," Briggs said. "You'll smell just like everyone else up there does. I'm serious."

"Like what? Flowers growing in a garbage dump?" Mabel asked. Everyone laughed again.

When all was said and done, however, Vyse and Aika eventually left to go change in separate hallways of the nearby ruins. Marco closed the secret door just to be safe, but nobody heard any movement on the other side. When Vyse returned, he was buttoned up in the feathered finery of a Valuan nobleman. Aika came out in a dress that actually covered her up, her hair hastily pinned atop her head.

"...We'll say we just came back from the coliseum," she said, noting how messy she looked.

"That's not a lie, you know," Vyse replied, adjusting his hat. "I feel like such a moron. Who would actually wear this kind of stuff?"

"Don't buckle your cutlasses like that. It's un-noble," Dyne said, taking Vyse's off-hand cutlass off from the sheath he normally had buckled around his chest. "Keep them at your side. Aika, don't take your boomerang. Ladies don't carry weapons."

"Men don't either up there...it's just for show," Briggs murmured.

"Right, we're ready then. I hope I don't have to fight in this..." Vyse rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Aika."

Aika took her boomerang anyway.

"Vyse, wait," Dyne called. "I know it's a little early to be giving you this, but...here. Use it if you're in a trouble spot." He reached into his tunic, and pulled out his key ring. Dangling from it were all six different colored moonstones.

"Wow...Dad, thanks..." Vyse was overwhelmed, and he smiled.

"Captain," Dyne corrected, gently.

"I'm gonna take this lot back to the _Little Jack_," Drachma said. "Don't send the kid, I remember the way. We'll meet you in the Upper City port and then we can get outta this place."

"Aye aye." Vyse turned and nodded to Marco. "Lead the way."

It was a much shorter walk into Upper City than it was over from Lower City, but to save them time Marco decided to take them down a passageway closer to the palace to begin with. As they stood at the base of the ladder to the surface, Aika gathered up her multitude of skirts and began to slowly climb, but as Vyse reached for the ladder to follow her up, he heard a muffled sound. Pausing, the rogue turned and looked over his shoulder to find that Marco was crying.

"Marco...what's wrong?" he asked.

"Vyse...are you really going to go up there?" Marco asked. "Are you going to try and escape the Grand Fortress?"

"That's the plan," Vyse replied, grinning. "I told you we could do it."

"No...n-no..." Marco sniffed and wiped at his eyes. "Please...please don't do it. You'll get killed this time, I just know it. My parents...they were killed trying to escape the Grand Fortress. Nobody's ever done it before. It's just impossible."

"I'm really sorry about your parents, Marco...but like I already told you, I'm not about to give up," Vyse replied as gently as he could. He smiled a bit, then looked up towards the manhole cover, as if he could see the sky. "There's a whole big world out there, Marco...and I'm gonna leave my mark on it. I can't die before that happens. I'm always striving to push my limits, to see what I can do. I never let anything stand in my way, and so far, nothing's stopped me." He looked back down at the boy. "Besides, whenever I hear somebody say the word impossible...it makes me want to prove them wrong. Impossible is just a word to let people feel good about themselves when they quit."

Marco sniffled, wiping at his eyes once more. "Vyse...do you think I could ever become a sailor someday...?" he asked.

Vyse grinned. "Absolutely. You'd make a great sailor, Marco." He gave the boy another thumbs-up, eyes dancing. "I'll be waiting for you...out there!"

"Right!" Marco smiled through his tears, mimicking the rogue. Vyse rumpled the boy's hair playfully, then ascended the ladder.

Making the transition from Lower City, to the sewers, to Upper City was as stark a contrast as that between black and white. Everything that could possibly go wrong in Lower City was completely non-existent on the other side of town. Every street was so clean that they likely would have been able to eat off them. The houses were enormous, nearly castles in themselves, hewn from marble and granite and tiled with elegant roofing, golden lights burning brightly from within each window. Even the shops were large and expansive, often multi-storied, with elaborately painted signs advertising their services and large windows displaying their multitudes of exotic wares. The city was beautifully landscaped, with trees lining the streets and each house displaying a garden of jungle-like proportions. Very few people walked the street; instead, they were toted about in carriages of polished wood, pulled by well-groomed horses.

Almost as common as the horse-drawn buggies that threatened to run them over was the haughty laughter and music that seemed to echo from every house. Everybody seemed to be having a party.

Aika snapped out her feather fan and stuck her nose up in the air, fanning herself heavily. "Alas, whatever shall I do? My hair is a complete bird's nest. We can't go to the party unless I look absolutely perfect. My beauty, after all, is stunning."

Vyse chuckled. "I think you got the attitude over here down. C'mon, let's head towards the palace."

She winked. "Right."

Vyse couldn't help but to let his eyes wander the city as they walked down the street. It didn't suit his sailor's tastes at all, but even he had to admit that it was magnificent. His Rogue's mind began thinking of all the riches that were likely bundled up in just one house alone, riches he could liberate to help needier people, such as those down in Lower City. But each house had its share of guards, from vicious looking breeds of canines to men armed with guns patrolling the walls that surrounded them. Now was not the time to deal with such traps. Fina needed their help.

"Oh my, my..." A chuckle came from beside them. They looked over to see a plump woman there, sipping tea at a curbside cafe. "You two are actually walking to get about? Poor dears. You simply _must_ get yourself a carriage."

Aika sniffed at her. "If you must know, our carriage driver failed to turn up, so we're being forced to walk. This is soiling my dress and has completely ruined my hair! You have no idea how furious I am."

"So _hard_ to find good help these days," Vyse added, with a sigh.

"Oh, how dreadful!" The woman looked horrified. "Why, I would demand a refund from the carriage company. They don't deserve a single gold piece, if that is the case. Harrumph!" She ruffled, resembling a bird fluffing out its feathers.

"Mirriam, who in the world are you talking to?" A man with a monocle came out of an adjacent shop, carrying with him a pack of cigars. One was already in his mouth, and he puffed on it as he approached her. "Hmm...my dears, you need new stylists," he commented when he saw Vyse and Aika. "You look dreadful."

"Now George," Mirriam flicked a hand at him. "These poor dears are having a bad day. They actually have to walk to get where they're going because their coachman didn't show up. Walking! Imagine!"

"Oooh! Horrid!" The man shook his head, taking another puff from his cigar. "You'll have to excuse me, but which family do you come from?"

Aika looked at Vyse, at a loss.

But Vyse was able to think fast. He frowned at the man.

"How _dare _you!" he huffed. "Can you not tell that we are related to Admiral Alfonso himself? Why, we were on our way to the palace to have tea with him."

"Eh? Oh! Oh my..." The man looked horribly embarrassed. "You do have the look of a sailor about you...Do forgive me, lad, I see the resemblance now, especially in the girl."

"Hmph!" Aika was furious. Pivoting on her heel, she stormed away, moving quickly down the block. Vyse was pretty sure she was actually insulted and not acting.

"Dear, a word of advice?" Mirriam said, touching his arm as he turned to go. "Take the railcar to the palace, you'll get there much faster, even if your coach did show up."

"Railcar?" Vyse asked. He bit his tongue before he started asking what it was as well.

"Oh my, yes. The station's just down the street," she replied. "A rather scary looking piece of machinery, I know, but it is _far_ worth it."

"I see...thank you..." he replied, before hurrying after Aika. "What's the matter now?" he asked when he had at last caught up.

"_Me_, looking like Alfonso?!" she was disgusted.

Vyse laughed.

"Couldn't you have come up with a better excuse?" she asked.

"I would have told them the Dyne family, but we'd be arrested!" he replied, helplessly. "I don't know any other noble families from Valua, give me a break. I couldn't have said, 'yes, I'm the third cousin to the uncle of the brother of the aunt of the Prince of Valua, twice removed.'"

"You just about did..." she replied. "He said he's the Prince's cousin..."

Vyse shrugged. "Anyways...I got an interesting piece of advise from the fat tea lady," he said.

"Oh?" Aika looked curious.

Vyse nodded. "She said the best way to get to the palace is by railcar...whatever that is."

"I think I know what she's talking about," Aika replied. "While you were talking with your dad back there, I spoke with Luke. He said that when they were taken from their prisons in the Grand Fortress to the coliseum, they were loaded on a strange machine that followed a single rail. He said it was segmented and looked like a giant insect, and ran very fast."

"A giant insect..." Vyse blinked, trying to picture such a contraption. "You mean it didn't sail?"

She shook her head. "Doesn't sound like it. Actually...it sounds like it runs over land."

"A land vehicle...I've never heard of such a thing..." Vyse murmured.

After a few more minutes of walking, they ascended a staircase onto a higher level of town. It was there that they found themselves looking down upon a long metallic beam that ran along the coastline, fastened to the stone there. Further down there was a small sheltered area in which a giant red hissing machine sat, covered in bright lights. It looked like a huge metallic centipede.

"That must be it," Aika said. "Can you zoom in on it?"

"Just a moment..." Vyse reached into his pockets and pulled out his goggles, taking off his hat in order to put them on. Quickly, he adjusted the lens and magnified his view, studying the area around the machine. "I see some guards. They're talking to an important-looking woman in red. She's in a military uniform..."

"Is she getting on the railcar?" Aika asked.

"Doesn't look like it. One of the guards is," he replied. The same guard returned a moment later, towing with him a familiar-looking white-robed figure. Vyse gasped. "Fina!"

"What?!" Aika's eyes went wide. "Are you serious? I thought she was at the palace!"

"So did I. I guess this woman wanted to talk to her...I think she's an Admiral," he replied. "Alright...the woman's leaving, they're all saluting her. They put Fina back on that thing. And...it's moving!"

"Wah! Vyse, we've gotta get down there!" Aika cried.

"No time. Pick up your skirts, we'll need to do this air pirate style."

"What?! Isn't there a plan B?" she asked, frantic.

"Aika! Fina needs us!" Vyse climbed up on the railing that lined the walk they were moving along, where the railcar would pass right below. "As Drachma would say...suck it up!"

She groaned.

In a blur, the car whizzed past beneath them, roaring and churning like a ferocious beast. Vyse tensed his muscles and then sprang, landing with ease on his moving target. Aika followed suit, but tripped on her skirts and, with a cry, landed face-first atop the hard metal.

"Are you alright?!" he shouted over the roar of the engines and the clattering of the car against the track. He tried to help her up, but she leaned against him heavily, dazed.

"Oh...no..." she murmured, absently.

Vyse chuckled and towed her along.

The railcar navigated its way along the rail quickly, and to their right, Upper City flew past in a blur. Before long, they had gone along its entire length and then plunged into a tunnel drilled into the side of one of the mountains, disappearing into the darkness. The rocky crevice was dimly lit, only illuminated by lanterns hung at scarce intervals to light the track ahead. The real lighting came from the front of the car, which had a blinding white spotlight mounted on it.

Once Aika had recovered sufficiently, Vyse took the lead and gestured for her to follow, taking a moment to catch his balance before nimbly hopping across to the car ahead of him. She followed in the same fashion and they began to make a slow, cautious progress down the cars as the railcar continued careening along over the golden rails. But the force of the railcar's velocity pulled the two of them back, and each step they took was grudging. Vyse felt as though his feet were encased in blocks of stone.

Aika was busy tearing away her skirts to make them shorter when a jolt suddenly knocked them off balance. Struggling to stay atop his car, Vyse looked back in the direction it had come from, realizing another railcar was trailing them nose-to-tail. A bulky figure, cloaked in black, hopped from the lead car onto the tail of their own vehicle. Vyse zoomed in and studied him.

"Vyse? Who is that?" Aika asked.

"I don't know..." he replied, "but I somehow doubt we can take him." He paused as the man threw off his cloak, revealing an enormous sword sheathed to his back. He drew it, looking their way. "Erm...he looks rather powerful. We'd better get out of here."

"Where have we got to go?" she asked, a bit panicked.

"They're keeping Fina in the front car," he replied. "Once we reach her, we can disconnect this thing and leave him behind...I noticed that each car is attached to the other by only one pin. If you can melt it away, we can steal this thing easily."

"Good idea. Let's hurry before he can catch us!" she replied, rising swiftly to her feet.

Trying to run down the cars, when they were moving in the opposite direction to begin with was even harder than attempting to walk down them. Vyse could feel the man's presence behind him as a dark and foreboding nagging that crept up his spine, but that was what pushed him onward. There was no way he would be able to block an attack from such a large sword, even with both his cutlasses. The size of it alone would be enough to knock the both of them off the railcar and down to their doom.

_How did this guy find us to begin with?!_ he thought, scowling inwardly. _I thought all the guards were at the coliseum. Somebody must have seen us jumping on this thing in Upper City and reported it. Gah! Damn my luck._

One by one, single-file, they hopped down into a gap between two cars, where one door of one car lead across a 3-foot catwalk to the door of another. Unsure of which one was their target, Vyse peeked through the windows of both and finally decided that the one closer to the engine was the car they were looking for.

Brandishing the hilt of one cutlass, he bashed the window in, reveling in the noise of shattering glass. With the window gone, he was able to reach inside and unlock the door, allowing the two of them to storm in. What they ran in to was a stately car full of plush seats, where Fina was sitting accompanied by two guards. Her eyes, huge and round, were on them, but her hands and feet were bound and she was helpless. She was bruised and a little roughed up, but scared more than she was hurt.

"Untie her and we'll let you live!" Vyse ordered, from the doorway.

"Air pirate trash!" one of the guards replied, springing to his feet and brandishing his weapon. It was a gun, tipped with a bayonet. "This girl is of no value to you. You'll will regret boarding this train!"

Vyse smirked and drew his other cutlass, holding them at the ready. "Sounds like you wanna fight," he replied. "_That_ is something you're gonna regret."

The guard leveled his gun at him, aiming it at his forehead. "_Do_ you wish to fight? I would like to see you try," he taunted.

Aika tossed her boomerang, and it hit the gun and knocked it out of his hands. As he dropped it, a shot fired off and went through the roof, sending metal debris into the other guard's eyes. He fired blindly, and Vyse fell as he felt a sharp stab of lightning bite into his leg.

Aika was panicked, but he grit his teeth and dragged himself over to where the first guard had dropped his gun. The other guard recovered and took aim at him, but Aika attacked him as well, giving Vyse enough of an opening to turn and shoot the both of them. The two crumpled to the ground and never got back up.

"W-what are you doing here...?" Fina gasped. Wounded as he was, Vyse ignored the bullet in his thigh and dragged himself over to her, fumbling to untie her bindings.

"What do you think?" he replied, gritting his teeth slightly. "We're here to rescue you!"

Fina was at a loss for words. "You...you did all this...for me...?" she asked. "I...I thought you only came to rescue your father..."

"Huh?" Vyse blinked. "You mean you saw us earlier?"

Fina nodded. "In the coliseum. They made me watch the fight."

Vyse could only stare. "Did you raise that shield around us?"

Fina shook her head. "I only put a few guards to sleep. I wanted to help more, but I couldn't..." She bowed her head slightly, then gasped when she saw his wound. "Oh no!"

"Don't...worry about it..." he grunted, leaning back against the chair. "We'll tend to it later."

"No. No..." she shook her head, clasping her hands over her chest. Her eyes were filled with concern, and he realized she was crying. "Vyse...you...you hurt yourself over me. Please let me help you, please..."

"What can you do...?" he asked, gritting his teeth again.

"Just...just hold still..." she replied, tentatively reaching out a hand for him. Gently, she placed her hand over his wound, then closed her eyes and drew in a soft breath. "Moons..." she whispered, "Give me strength..."

An aura of rippling green light surrounded her, seeming to emanate distinctively from her palm. When, a few moments later, it had faded, she sat back and opened her hand. Sitting in it was the bullet that had burrowed deep into Vyse's flesh, and the wound was gone without a trace.

"Fina..." Aika was shocked. "Was that Green magic? I've never seen anyone do that, not even Erinn..."

Fina blushed, looking away. "It's...really nothing special. Back home, they schooled me extensively in magic..."

"Nothing?" Aika shook her head. "You guys must be some kind of magical geniuses if that's 'nothing'!"

Vyse remained quiet, marveling down at the bloody patch that had once been his wound. There was no pain, and now no scar. Normal doctors would have pulled the bullet out and stitched up the wound, then used green magic to relieve the pain. But this...

"My my...what have we here...? What a touching reunion..." a dark voice said from the doorway. Vyse whirled around to find the man who had been chasing them there, smirking. He looked even more vile from up close. "You weren't thinking on stealing our honored guest, were you?"

Vyse scowled and picked the gun back up, aiming it at him. "You sure have a strange way of treating guests."

The man only chuckled. It was a nasty chuckle. "It's her own fault, you know. She's not a terribly cooperative person. Why do you bother to defend her, when you clearly have no idea as to what you are in the midst of? You are insects rallying against the heavens. Regardless, I commend you on your capability. I am Lord Galcian, sworn protector of the Valuan Armada. You two have caused a lot of trouble to have earned my coming after you."

Vyse smirked. "Thanks. I do what I can. My name's Vyse...I thought you were just the guy who cleaned the rail cars."

That seemed to mildly irritate Galcian. His brow twitched slightly as he reached for his sword, dark eyes leveled on the rogue.

"Vyse! Duck!" Aika cried.

Vyse didn't question her judgment, and hovered over the girls protectively as suddenly an explosion rocked the railcar. Shards of metal and glass went flying everywhere, digging into his skin and opening new wounds that set Fina's work back considerably. When the smoke cleared and he looked up, he saw that the car had been blasted in two. Galcian's half of the train was now falling far back behind them, while they continued to accelerate forward. Sailing right alongside them was the _Little Jack_, guns smoking.

"It's the Captain!" Vyse cried, shocked, but ecstatic.

"He's lowering a rope ladder to us!" Aika said. "Hurry, let's get off this thing."

"Fina, you go first!" Vyse shouted over the din of the railcar. "Aika, you follow, I'll bring up the rear."

It was difficult climbing aboard at such high speeds, but they made it within time. Drachma increased the ship's speed and they passed up the train, careening through the tunnel with nosebleed force. All of the Blue Storm had assembled on the deck, and they tended to the three as the _Little Jack_ continued to dart towards the exit of the tunnel.

"You were late!" Dyne shouted over the roaring of the wind. "We saw you on top of that thing from the Upper City docks and gave chase. Looks like we got here just in time!"

"You're the best, Dad!" Vyse replied, wincing as Mabel plucked some glass shards from his skin.

"It's not Dad! It's Captain!"

When he was free of glass and metal, Vyse declined Fina's healing offer and ran to the bridge, where he found Drachma hunched over the wheel with grit teeth and a steadfast gaze.

"Captain!"

"Don't distract me, boy!"

"Captain, please let me sail the ship! This is my battle!"

Drachma hesitated, then stepped aside. "...Hurry up. They're on to us."

They suddenly shot from the tunnel, and Vyse had to quickly throw the ship in reverse before they hit the opposite wall. Turning and catching the air currents flowing through the Grand Fortress strait, Vyse hastily urged the ship to pick up speed again, but before them was a horrifying sight: the gate to the Grand Fortress was closing, and had almost sealed the entire bay off. There was barely any room left to pass through, and it was growing smaller by the second.

Vyse had had enough of Valua, and he could feel his heart pounding in his ears as he felt his one chance begin to slip through his fingers. Once more he punched the engines, pushing and pushing the whaling vessel until it whined and shuddered in protest. Everyone gathered on board could only watch on in fear as only route of escape became narrower and narrower. They reached out for whatever was closest and held on as tight as they could, and through the window, Vyse could see that many of them were trembling with anxiety and dread. Realizing he was losing precious feet by the second, Vyse forced one final burst of speed from the _Little Jack, _ignoring the Armada vessels that emerged to fire at him,and plunged through the narrow crevice, scraping loudly against the gate. The ship jolted as the pectoral fins and side rudders were ripped off, resulting in some startled cries from the deck, but he didn't pause and he didn't look back. The sails suddenly billowed with wind as the lock sealed shut behind them, casting them off into the southern sky.

A stunned silence fell over the ship as clouds swirled all around them and carried them off towards the warm currents of Mid Ocean. The sailors on deck all exchanged glances, slowly edging over to the railings to look over the side and peer back behind them, to check and double check and confirm for themselves where exactly they now were. It took Vyse a moment to comprehend what had just happened himself.

He had just escaped from the impregnable Grand Fortress.


	9. Leaving the Nest

One and a half months had been nothing to the women of the Blue Storm, whose pain and frustration had been poured out behind hammer beats and strokes of the saw. That emotion, that determination, fear, anxiety, anger, and every other conflicting feeling, had re-constructed a village that originally took three years to build. Pirate Isle looked as if it had never been attacked.

There had been initial unease when the _Little Jack_ had pulled up to the harbor gate, as if it had right to dock there. But when the women, still armed and dangerous, realized that their family was on the deck of the unfamiliar green ship with a giant golden harpoon mounted on its bow, they opened the harbor door wide and welcomed them in with open arms. The reunions of family members had been tearful and full of angst, and it took weeks for everyone to recover. A party was thrown to commemorate the day, in celebration of the daring rescue, Vyse's escape, and most of all, to honor Drachma for all the aid he gave to the son of their peerless Captain. Many a time the old fisherman was invited to stay with them on the island and become a part of the Blue Storm, but he refused. He said he would stay only long enough to repair the damage their daredevil sea-brat had done to his ship.

Often Drachma could be found atop lookout isle, scanning the clouds all day for signs of Rhaknam. One day, Vyse and Aika decided to join him, and Fina followed, keeping close to her savior.

"Cap'n...do you really plan on leaving...?" Aika asked. "Cap'n Dyne says the _Little Jack_ will be done by the end of the day."

"I tol'ja...I got a mission in life..." the old man replied, quietly, distractedly. He didn't bother looking back over his shoulder at them. "I can't just sit here idly while Rhaknam still swims these skies."

"Captain Drachma, sir..." Fina said, quietly, "You...you are a very good man. I cannot thank you enough for helping Vyse. Both of us owe a lot to you."

Drachma didn't reply.

"We'll...all miss you," Vyse finally said, finding the silence uncomfortable. "I wish you wouldn't go. You've...become almost a part of my family, you know? Like a second father."

Somehow, the rogue boy knew it tied in somewhere to the old captain's emotions, which he took great care to never show.

Drachma finally turned around, his face solemn. He looked the boy over momentarily, then shook his head, shuffling over to the bench and sitting down on it. It creaked beneath his massive weight.

"I want ya to tell me somethin'," he said. "How come, after all the crap I put ya through, ya don't hate me? Did you put up with me, boy, just to save yer real family?"

"Huh?" Vyse blinked. "I didn't 'put up' with anyone. You may have worked Aika and I to death, and you may have knocked me around a lot initially, but we can't hate you. You helped us accomplish something that others said was impossible...and you watched over us in our adventure. If anything, _you_ should hate _us_." Vyse looked off at the sky rift in the distance. "We took you away from your own private schedule, your hunt for Rhaknam, to go on a quest that was incredibly dangerous. Aika and I are just amateur fighters...really, neither of us knows what we're doing. But you protected us and saw us through all that, even though we drug you along unwillingly."

"Hmph..." Drachma's mustache quirked a bit. It almost looked like he was smiling. "There really is more t'you than meets the eye, boy," is all he replied with. He then looked to Fina, who was significantly dwarfed next to him. "An' all this time, he was chasin' you. What does Valua want with you, anyways?"

"What?" Fina was caught off guard by the question, but she abruptly fell silent.

"Don't worry," Vyse said, "you don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

"No..." Fina shook her head. "I...I should have told you earlier...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry. This really is all my fault."

"No it isn't," Aika replied, with a smile. "But if you have anything you need to get off your chest, then tell us! We're all friends. That's what friends are for!"

"Y-yes...friends..." Fina smiled, shyly. "Very well...I-I'll explain everything..." She closed her eyes and walked over towards the edge of the island, resting her hands on the rope-rail. When she opened them again, she was gazing up at the Silver Moon. "...I am a Silvite, a descendant of the Silver Civilization."

"Silver Civilization?" Vyse echoed, blinking.

Fina nodded. "Yes. Well over a thousand years ago...in the time of the Old World...there existed six great civilizations, one beneath each moon. These civilizations were highly developed and had technology that surpasses even Valua's today. Technology continued to rapidly increase, and the civilizations grew. It was a golden age for the entire world.

"...But with advanced technology came great power. One of the ancient civilizations learned how to create a living weapon of mass destruction, called a Gigas, by distilling a large moonstone into its purest form: a Moon Crystal. In order to defend themselves from a Gigas attack, the other civilizations created Gigas as well, but as a result, the world went to war. The fighting lasted for years, and everything was torn apart. The world was ablaze, turned to ash. And then...

"All of the sudden, moonstones started falling from the moons, all of them, at once. They battered the lands for days, smiting everything in their path. Everything, the entire Old World, was quickly and thoroughly obliterated. My people rose above the cataclysm to escape it, and later gave it the name of the Rains of Destruction. It was as if the moons wanted to make sure their powers were never abused, ever again.

"...Even if the Rains hadn't fallen, it was still too late for the world. Instead of using their technology to help each other, the people of the Old World used it for war. The Gigas did only what the Rains seemed to have finished off. Since then, from above, my people have sworn to protect this world from similar follies that rocked the Old World."

"But why does Valua want you?" Aika asked. "Just for your technological knowledge?"

"No..." Fina shook her head. "Valua has found out about the Moon Crystals. They plan on gathering them and awakening the Gigas, so they can use them to conquer the world. I was sent by my people to collect the crystals before the Valuans could get their hands on them..."

"That's...a little bizarre..." Aika said. "I'm having a tough time believing it..."

"Hmph." Drachma waggled a bronzed finger at her. "How is her story any different than mine, lass? What's the difference between giant Arcwhales and another giant critter? Frankly, I chose t'believe her on the fact that I don't want any more Rhaknams runnin' around this place!"

"That's true..." Vyse replied. "We've seen the damage Rhaknam can do up close and personal. If these Gigas are anything like what Fina says..."

"...then we can't let Valua succeed," Aika finished for him, eyes a little wide. "I see what you mean..."

Vyse frowned. "I still need to travel the world and leave my mark on it...I don't want those bastards awakening some...ancient guardian...and destroying it before I even have the chance!"

"I-if that's the case..." Fina said, "...I have a favor to ask of you."

"What is it?" Vyse asked.

Fina lowered her gaze. "I...I want you to come with me. It's a very dangerous quest to undertake on my own...and I can't do it without my ship. I-I'm stuck. I need help. Please...you are familiar with Valua as an enemy and you have defeated them once already. I would value your aid for an eternity..." She bowed, deeply.

An overwhelming question. Vyse knew that if he accepted, he'd be biting off more than he could likely chew. He looked over at Aika, but could read nothing from her face; her eyes were wide, round, but didn't convey any distinct emotions. Drachma was as stoic as ever, watching Vyse closely. It was as if the old man was leaving the decision up to him. Was he?

"...Let's go, Fina."

Fina gasped and looked up at him, positively beaming. That expression alone made him feel weak in the knees. "Really? Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!"

"But...a ship? What are we gonna do about a ship?" Aika asked. "Cap'n, you won't help us, will you...?"

"Mmph. Might as well..." he murmured.

"Oooh! Great!" she bounced. "Now all we need is Cap'n Dyne's permission. That's easier said than done." She sighed.

Vyse smirked. "If he says no, we're going anyways. There's no way we can pass this up!"

Fina was so overwhelmed that she looked ready to cry. All she could apparently think of doing was bowing again. "You all are so kind to me...I can not thank you enough..."

"Meep!"

The sound caused Vyse and Aika to pause and look around. It came out of nowhere.

"What was that?" Aika asked. "Vyse, was that your stomach?"

"What? I don't squeak when I'm hungry!" he replied.

"Meep meep!"

"Oh!" Fina stood up straight and smiled, extending her arm. "I'm sorry. It's alright, we're safe. You can come out now."

Vyse watched in a stupor as a little blob of silver slipped out from Fina's sleeve. It stretched and grew and expanded in size, puffing up into a creature he had never seen before.

"Eek!" Aika leapt behind him. "Where did that come from?"

"This is Cupil," Fina said, smiling affectionately at the floating animal. "He's a creature from my homeland, called an Apis. He can change his shape, and usually he's shaped like a bracelet around my arm. I've had Cupil with me since I was just a baby. Come, Cupil. Say hello to everybody."

"Meepilmeepmeepil!" Cupil squeaked.

"Aww...he's so cute!" Aika remarked, in an abrupt mood swing.

"Let's go equip ourselves, then, and help finish up the _Little Jack_," Vyse said. "Afterwards, we can talk to my parents about this. Tomorrow, we can cast out in search of the Moon Crystals!"

* * *

"I know how you are when you get this way, Vyse. There is no possible way I can change your mind." Dyne said three days later as they stood in the underground port with all their things. "Remember everything I've taught you, and make me proud. That's all I can ask of you."

"I've always known that there comes a day when your children have to leave..." his mother said, with a sad smile. "I just had hoped that day wouldn't come so soon..."

"Saving the world's a big responsibility," Dyne said, in perhaps the biggest understatement Vyse had ever heard. "You're going to have to rely on every skill you've learned up until now, and acquire even more along the way. This isn't a one-man job you're walking into...you're going to need the help of as many people as possible. I want you to look after Aika and Fina and protect them as well."

"Captain Dyne...your hospitality and kindness...I'll never forget it..." Fina smiled, a bit sadly. "I...I'll do my best to fight for Vyse as well. You have given me so much in my short time here...I-I truly can't thank you enough." She bowed. "When I return home, I will make sure my people will return your kindness with something...anything you need."

Dyne only chuckled, dismissing the thought with the wave of one hand. "Keeping the world safe from Valua is all the thanks I need. We are sworn enemies, after all."

"Do you have everything?" Vyse's mother asked, concerned. "Extra clothing? Healing crystals? Money?"

"Mom, you're acting like a mother..." Vyse replied, embarrassed.

"I'm supposed to!" she replied, almost frantic.

"Let's get movin' then, boy," Drachma said, already heading for the _Little Jack_'s deck. "We've got a good wind comin' up from the south. Let's not lose it."

"Coming, Cap'n!" Aika called. She hugged Dyne and Vyse's mom, and then followed the old man on board.

Vyse smiled, feeling a little hesitant. "...I won't disappoint you," he said, at last. "I don't doubt we'll be gone for over a year...but I'll be back, you'll see! Back, and stronger than ever! Don't give up on me." He grinned, and then followed. Fina bowed deeply to the two of them and then was right behind him.

The entire island had gathered in the underground port to see them off. As the _Little Jack_ fired up its engines in the dock where the _Albatross_ had once proudly rested, the crowd called out to them, shouting goodbyes and the best of their wishes. Nimbly, Vyse climbed up to the crow's nest and waved back to them, shouting things even though he knew they couldn't understand. He had made a promise; he would return, without fail.

Slowly, under its own power, the _Little Jack_ pulled out from the port. Turning on the spot, Drachma brought it up and past the island, and then they were on their way, the wind catching in their sails and pulling it forward with tremendous speed. Vyse remained in the crow's nest, looking back at Pirate Isle until he could no longer see it. By that time, they had nearly reached Shrine Isle, and were ready to pass it up. Feeling a strange mixture of sadness and excitement, Vyse finally came down from the crow's nest and went back up to the bridge, where Aika and Fina were cleaning the windows and Drachma was still at the wheel.

"Finally decided to come down off your perch, huh?" Aika teased as he came up the stairs.

"I was about to come get'cha," Drachma said, without turning around. "I got work for ya, boy. You'll need to go down to the engine room and tighten the winches connected to the pectoral fins. They're a little loose, but yer father did a good job puttin' 'em on."

"Of course," Vyse replied. "He could only do so much. The _Albatross_ only had stationary fins, so the winches needed to be looser."

"Well, hurry up then." Drachma grunted. "We gotta long way to go."

"Just where _are_ we going?" Vyse asked.

"W-well...uhm..." Fina turned to face him, looking a little guilty. "I know I should have asked you, but you wouldn't come down and...and the Captain wanted an answer, so...so I talked to Aika about it. We decided that we'll be going to Nasr."

"Nasr?" he asked. "Is there a Moon Crystal in Nasr?"

She nodded. "There is. The two closest Moon Crystals to us are in Valua and Nasr. B-but I know we shouldn't go back to Valua so soon. So I'm taking us to the desert. There is an ancient temple, lost far to the east of a town called Maramba. That is where the Red Moon Crystal is buried."

"Well, at least we won't need an escort ship to get to Maramba now," Vyse said, grinning. "We can blast our way through the stone reefs around there. That saves us a trip to Nasrad."

"We'll be takin' a shortcut through the reefs," Drachma said. "...Which is why we need them winches tightened! Get _down_ there, boy!"

Vyse laughed and saluted as he scrambled down the stairs. "Aye aye!"

* * *

At twenty-four, she had everything going for her, particularly her looks. Tall, slender, blessed with ample curves in all the right places, she was no doubt beautiful. Her hair fell around her shoulders and down her back in long auburn waves, framing a delicately-featured face with a pointed chin, full lips, straight nose, and stunning green eyes behind thick, long eyelashes. Anymore she was usually in her military uniform, which consisted of a red turtleneck knit top that was form fitting and over which she had strapped on some shoulder armor in a similar, but darker hue. For accentuation, she had buckled three belts around her midriff, as black as the leggings that clung to her lower body. Stretching up her long legs was a pair of thigh-high leather boots, red on the top half and then black past the knee, which fit her like a glove. Her delicate, tiny hands were wrapped up in pure white gloves.

At twenty-four, she was an admiral of the Valuan Armada and sole commander of the Red Guard. She was a well-known specialist in covert operations and the usage of magic, and was widely respected for her brutality and cunning in the heat of battle. Her flagship, the _Lynx_, was not only sleek and fast, but equipped with magic cannons that few of her enemies had ever been successful in defending against.

At twenty-four, she had at last risen from rags to riches and lived in a gorgeous estate in Upper City. Her life had never been better.

"They almost beat me at my own game, you know," she remarked lazily to the old man sitting across from her. He was a titan, clothed in a black body suit over which he had buckled a multitude of heavy rust-colored plate armor. His face was roughly chiseled, with prominent features only now beginning to be overwhelmed behind bags and wrinkles. Small blue-green eyes, bright and sharp as a hawk's, peered over his large, beaky nose with the light wisdom glowing in them. His snow-white hair had thinned and was receding along his head, but there was still a good amount to his beard.

"Oh?" he asked, without looking up from his book. He leafed through it, casually. "How so?"

"A most impressive display of covert operations," she replied with a soft chuckle, lifting her wine glass to her painted lips. "They snuck in here disguised as Nasreans and snuck out disguised as Upper City citizens. I couldn't have done much better myself. If I hadn't seen them jump on board that train, they likely would have never given themselves away."

"You sound impressed." He peered up over the book at her, smiling. "Impressed by air pirates, Belleza?"

"Hahaha...Gregorio, you can be so mean sometimes," she replied. With a smile, she rose from her seat and strode over to the fire, watching it contemplatively. "You know me, I'm just like your nephew. I have no grudge against Blue Rogues whatsoever."

"Nor do I," he replied, turning back to his book. "However, we will need to disregard our neutrality now that Lord Galcian has issued us new orders, you know..."

"...Yes, I know." Belleza grew a little stiff. "I would never, ever dream of doing something to displease Lord Galcian. He has just to ask, and I would do anything for him."

Gregorio chuckled. "Don't get carried away now. We must act within reason."

"Oh, I know that." She looked back over at him and smiled. "That is why I invited you over. I need your ingenious planning to help me concoct a way I can pursue those air pirates. Lord Galcian requested it of me, but...I need a strategy."

"A strategy, mmm. So you admit you need a touch of wisdom?" he asked, eyes twinkling. His subtle way of joking always made her laugh.

"You are such a good man," she replied, with a chuckle. "It is no wonder why Prince Enrique adores you."

"You flatter me, Belleza." He chuckled as well, then put his book aside for the moment. "So. What were you thinking?"

"Well..." Belleza grabbed a map off a shelf and returned to her seat, spreading it out over the low table set between their two chairs. "This is where their base island is. Lord Ramirez discovered it and that was how Lord Galcian was able to sack it. Logically, you would think to strike there first, but these air pirates are no fools. If they have the girl with them, they won't be staying there."

"Indeed," Gregorio replied. "They do seem to be the sort that thinks ahead."

Belleza nodded and trailed her finger around the Mid Ocean area of the map. "The next logical thing you would assume they would do is run to an adjacent Meridian island. The closest one to them is Port Denali, but they do have a wide variety of locations to choose from. However...all of these islands are very small, and don't offer a lot of hiding space. So, they likely will not go there, either."

"And so...?" Gregorio asked.

"So, what I was thinking, is that they will take up asylum in Nasrad," Belleza replied, pointing the city out on the map. "It _is_ ideal. Nasr is the next closest landmass to them, and Nasrad its biggest city. It would be very easy to blend in there. Now that their ship has a harpoon cannon, they'll be able to break through stone reefs. They can take a shorter route there and make it in less time."

"I see...a good way of covering all the bases." Gregorio nodded, impressed. "However, is it wise to totally disregard the possibility that they will be hiding somewhere in Mid Ocean? Or elsewhere in Nasr, for that matter?"

"Not at all," she replied. "But Mid Ocean is the First Fleet's territory. Ramirez will be taking care of that."

"Well, then...I think you have taken the necessary precautions." Gregorio frowned, in thought. "So why do you need a strategy?"

Belleza frowned and held up a finger, matter-of-factly. "I will not blunder as our Grand Fortress Guard did, nor will I make a fool out of myself like Alfonso. I need to think of every possible situation that could occur in a confrontation against them...including a ship-to-ship battle."

"Ahh, now I see." Gregorio chuckled. "Belleza, you have always been well-known for your planning. When I am dead and gone, I do hope you will take my place."

Belleza blinked. "Gregorio, don't say that! You are an outstanding admiral and a strong man...not only will I fail to match up to you, but you will also continue to live for a very, very long time. I know it."

"Hahaha...here's to the future then, hmm?" he lifted his wine glass to hers in a small toast.

"Yes," she replied, with a smile. "A future where the world is united and there is no more war."


	10. Red Moon Rising

Cutting through the reefs had cut ample time off their trip. Now before them stretched the endless golden ocean known as Nasr, rising and falling in sand waves off to the horizon. The sun beamed down relentlessly upon them, and below deck, Vyse struggled to keep the engine cool by continuously throwing blue moonstones into it. But not even an hour's time passed before the stones were obliterated in the heat and he had to start all over, working up a sweat that the hot and dry air did nothing to accommodate for.

"If this engine weren't so ancient..." he grumbled, wrestling off his tunic and undershirt and tossing them aside, "I wouldn't be down here killing myself."

A sudden shuffling caught his attention, and he whirled around to see a flurry of white skirts go darting up the stairs. In her haste, Fina tripped and fell back down, and he rushed over to catch her. She squealed and covered her eyes.

"I'm sorry! I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" she cried, in a panic. "I just wanted to come down and get something from my room! I didn't know you were undressing!"

"Huh?" Vyse blinked and suddenly grew very red. "Fina, I'm not undressing...I was just taking my shirt off..."

"T-that's undressing!" She refused to uncover her eyes.

"No it's not..." Vyse felt rather dumb. Silvite culture must have been heavily conservative. "I'm leaving the rest of my clothes on. I just took off my shirt because I'm hot. For men, it's...well, it's normal."

Fina fell silent. "...It is?"

"I take it it isn't where you come from?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Heh." Vyse couldn't help but to smile. "Well, things are a _lot_ different down here, especially when it comes to air pirates. We're a lot more casual. Look at how Aika dresses! Would your people have considered that appropriate?"

"W-well...no..." she replied, after a moment.

Vyse chuckled. "There's nothing wrong with it. Aika chooses to dress that way because it's easy for her to fight in, and she finds it the most comfortable. Here, it all depends on a person's personality, their own preferences. We do what we want because there's no...no codes, no rules."

"I...I see..."

With another smile, Vyse set her back down, and she slowly, tentatively uncovered her eyes.

"So...this is custom...?" she asked.

Vyse nodded.

"Does that mean I should take off my shirt, too?"

Vyse's eyes widened at those words. "Nonononono!" he said quickly, waving his hands. "Only guys can do that! Only guys!"

"Oh...I-I'm sorry." She was quick to bow to him.

Vyse felt stupid. "It's alright, really," he said, reassuringly. "I know things are a lot different for you down here...I understand. Just dress however you want, as long as it's comfortable."

"Y-yes..." Fina smiled a little, though she was starting to look overwhelmed. "I...I am comfortable like this..."

"Then stay that way," he replied, smiling.

Fina fell silent again, her eyes on her feet.

"...Am I making you too uncomfortable?" he asked. "I'll put my tunic back on, how's that?"

"N-no, that's fine. I want you to be able to function in this heat..." Fina hesitated. "I just...may I ask you something?"

Bang! The doors to the engine room burst open, and Aika sprang down the stairs, excitedly. "Land ho!" she cried. "I spotted land from the crow's nest!"

"Tell me it's close! I'm dying down here," Vyse said, turning to shovel up more blue moonstone.

"Well..." She grinned at him wryly.

"We're not close at all, are we?" he asked, dumping the shoveload into the coolant chamber.

"About half an hour," she replied. "I came down here to look for some sun balm, it's brutal out there. I heard that if you actually go walking in the desert, your hair will catch on fire! They say that the people of Nasr carry buckets of water around with them, so they can put their friends out when that happens. And then--"

"What?" Vyse boggled. "Aika, I doubt it's _that_ hot outside."

"Hmph! Why don't you go out there, then?" she demanded. "That glass eye patch you wear will probably magnify the sun's rays and fry your brain!"

Vyse only shook his head, then sighed. "Dammit. We're almost out of blue moonstone. We've got enough to last us for about another hour. Do they sell it in Maramba?"

"Oh, I'll help," Fina replied. "Here." She placed her hands on the side of the coolant tub and closed her eyes. "Moons, give me strength."

A moment later, the entire thing was frozen over.

"Purple magic?" Aika guessed.

Fina smiled. "It's a spell called Crystales. That should last about five hours or so before it completely melts away. I'm sorry, Vyse...perhaps I should have done that sooner."

"Don't worry about it." He smiled, then set his shovel aside. "I'm gonna go up to the bridge and see if the Captain needs anything else. Are you guys finished with your chores?"

"Not me." Aika shook her head. "I need to swab the decks."

"I have one more net to mend," Fina replied. "We'll be busy enough until we reach Maramba."

He nodded. "Alright. Let's meet on the bridge as soon as we can, then."

A half hour later, after deck swabbing, net mending, and engine oiling, Maramba had come into full view. The town was tiny, leaning on the coast of a broad, flat island that was halfway surrounded by solid reef. There seemed to be two levels and three parts of town; the lower half was on the coast, where all the sailing-related establishments seemed to be. The upper half, raised away from the coast, seemed to be all shops. Separate from it, fenced in on its own across a good expanse of desert for whatever reason, seemed to be the residential area. Massive torches, no doubt fueled by red moonstones, burned around the city and the harbor in particular, to guide in ships through the shifting sands.

For all the town's size, however, the harbor was jam-packed. Drachma grumbled to himself as he battled for a dock to land in. When at last he was able to settle the _Little Jack_ in, Vyse could wait no longer. He grabbed all of his possessions and ran out onto the docks, grinning. Aika and Fina soon followed.

"This is great!" he cried, absolutely grinning from ear to ear. "So much to explore! I've never been to a Nasrean town before!"

"So hot..." Fina commented, quietly. "The people who live here must be very strong people, indeed."

"I've heard the Nasreans are a very poetic and romantic people, actually," Aika said, wistfully. "I can't wait to meet the folks who live here. It will be like walking through a storybook."

"Well, let's wait for the Captain before we do go anywhere," Vyse replied. "What in the name of the moons is he doing in there? He hasn't even shut off the engines yet."

As soon as he said that, he could hear the gears in the engine shifting. The pectoral fins on the side of the ship drew to a halt and then began flapping in the opposite direction. The _Little Jack_ was backing out of the port!

"Hey! Cap'n! What are you doing?" Aika called.

Drachma poked his grizzled head out of a window of the bridge and frowned down at the three of them. "This is where we part ways," he called back. "I got no time for babysittin' or treasure huntin'. I've wasted enough time with that. I gotta go find Rhaknam."

"WHAT?!" Aika was furious. "Hey! Get back here, you rusty old man! You can't do this to us! HEY!"

It was no use. Drachma pulled his head back inside, and they were left to stand there, helplessly, watching as he sailed out of sight and disappeared into the swirling curtains of sand clouding the air in the distance.

"Oh my!" Fina's eyes were wide. "That...that isn't good. Did we anger him?"

Vyse sighed. "Great. We're stuck in a desert with no ship and only five thousand gold."

"And we can't speak Nasrean!" Aika wailed.

"Uhm...actually..." Fina looked a little bashful. "...I can."

Vyse blinked. "Huh? Really? You know both Nasrean and Valuan?"

She nodded. "I know every language spoken on this planet. I had to learn them as a part of my apprenticeship to the Silver Temple. Priestesses of the Silver Temple are the record keepers of the Silver Civilization. In order to properly record history, we need to be able to understand the different cultures of the world. So we're taught the six languages."

Aika's eyes went wide. "You mean to tell me that there are people beneath the other moons still?" she asked. "That there's more to the world than Valua and Nasr?"

"Oh my, yes." Fina nodded. "A whole lot more. Arcadia is a lot larger than you realize."

"Good. All the more for me to explore." Vyse grinned. "Come on, let's head into town. We'll need to find a place to stay...then we'll see about getting a ship."

The two girls nodded and followed him.

Vyse couldn't understand why the docks were so full; there wasn't a soul in town. Very few people walked about the sandy streets and between the shops.

Nasr's architecture was distinctly different than Valua's, however. All of the structures were made from adobe, and painted colors that blended in almost perfectly with the sand. They were all square, with flat roofs, and bordered with triangle motifs in bright colors. They had no glass in their windows, just shutters to close them off in case of a sand storm. Everything was much more simplistic, but beautiful in its own way.

"It looks like there's only one inn in town," Aika observed, after a few minutes of exploring. "Might as well check in there."

Vyse nodded. "Alright."

When they entered the inn, though, Vyse began to realize where all the people in the docks had gone. There wasn't a soul inside, but he got a bad feeling when he saw sleeping bags rolled out on the floor of the lobby.

Fina translated what the innkeeper, deeply apologetic, said. "I'm incredibly sorry...We're simply overbooked. There is literally no more room in the inn."

"Ask her why," Vyse said. Fina did so.

"She says there's a dancer that recently came to town," Fina replied. "This dancer is so beautiful and talented that tourism to Maramba has increased threefold. People come from everywhere to see her."

"Great..." Vyse grumbled. "We'll have to sleep in the sand tonight because some half-wit sailors are here getting their jollies off a dancing girl."

"And you think _I'm_ the one with a dirty mind," Aika murmured.

"She says we should go across town to the fortune teller, Kalifa," Fina said, after a moment. "She believes Kalifa might be able to find us somewhere we can stay."

Vyse nodded. "Alright, then, we'll do that. I'd much rather prefer a mattress on the ground to sand in my pants."

Aika giggled.

Once outside again, Vyse navigated his way to the far end of the town, only to find it completely fenced off just as the half across from it was. The gate that allowed access to the desert was far too big for him to push with his own weight. He blinked, at a loss.

"You wan' to see dee udda part of town?" A male voice asked. He turned to see a short man in a turban there behind him, holding the reigns of a strange creature. It was easily as tall as the houses in the area, and walked, hunched over, on two powerful hind legs. Its forearms were considerably smaller and didn't look able to reach its mouth. It had wide feet, and a long tail and neck, and was colored a pale pink. On its back was a saddle and various pack bags.

"Do you know how we can get there?" Vyse asked.

"Yes! You take dee Dhabu!" he replied, grinning and pointing at the animal he was leading. "Dee Dhabu, good Dhabu."

"His Meridian's horrible..." Aika murmured.

Fina turned and started speaking to him in Nasrean. Their conversation went a lot quicker.

"These creatures are called Dhabus," she translated, after a moment. "They are native to Nasr, and he trains them. He says they are used for land transport across the desert because they are both strong and hardy and can go for a very long time without water. He says he can give us each a Dhabu so we can ride it to the other side of town."

"Wonderful," Vyse replied. "Can we keep them for as long as we stay in Maramba?"

Fina asked the man. "If we pay five extra gold, we can do that," she replied. "The Dhabus are twenty five gold each."

"Twenty five gold?! We might as well own the beasts for that. We need to save our money until we can get a ship." Vyse frowned. "Tell him we'll only take two. One of us can double up."

"Uhm...okay...I'll tell him," she replied.

Five minutes later, after having to barter rather extensively with the merchant, Vyse and the girls were off on the backs of the large creatures, Vyse alone and the two girls riding together. He wasn't sure if it was the sun beating down on him or the fact that Drachma had marooned them, but Vyse was starting to feel grumpy, and he shifted restlessly in his mount's saddle. What were they supposed to do in this port town? Would he be able to afford a boat able to traverse the desert, or would he have to steal one? Would they be able to get both a boat _and_ supplies to travel, or would they have to steal those as well? What if they got caught? The excuse, "We're out to save the world" didn't exactly sound plausible.

After ten minutes of tromping through the desert, the Dhabus pushed through another gate and were on the residential side of town. Vyse was very glad that he had invested in them; a walk across that expanse of sand would have been brutal enough as it was. They pulled their Dhabus up to ramps made specifically for dismounting them and then tied them up, looking around. Most of the buildings in the area were all houses, but nearby he could see a large building, likely a tavern, and a smaller one beside it.

"Kalifa must own the smaller shop," Fina said.

"Looks like it's closed to me," Aika said. "The curtains are drawn and there's a note on the door."

"Oh!" Fina hurried over to it and picked it up, reading it over carefully. "You're right. She left for Nasrad to purchase some scrying crystals and will be back tomorrow, or so it says."

"Great..." Aika looked miffed.

"Well...since we've come all this way, let's check the tavern," Vyse suggested. "There may be somebody in there who can help us out. If we can't find someone in there, we likely won't be able to find someone anywhere."

"You're right..." Aika replied. "Let's go then." She didn't even wait for a reply before going inside. Fina glanced at him naively and followed.

As soon as he got inside, Vyse realized why the inn was so full. The tavern was jam-packed full of sailors, all men, crowded into one half of the room and cheering rowdily as a small band played Mid-Eastern music in the background. Dancing fluidly, exotically to the music was a woman, likely the one the innkeeper had spoke of.

Vyse could not deny that she was beautiful. Her body was lean, sleek, likely from years of dancing. Her facial features were delicate, complete with pouty lips, enchanting green eyes, and long, thick eyelashes. Pinned atop her head in a wavy ponytail was hair of the deepest, richest ebony, with two long locks separated to frame her face as Fina's did. She was very scantily clad, and although it was customary for the region, Vyse still couldn't help but stare. A mere sash of rich violet had been wrapped around her breasts and tied around her neck, exposing all of her back, shoulders, and midriff. Low cut and see-through mesh pants in the same color fit loosely around her waist, held up by a golden belt bejeweled with various glittering trinkets. Adorning her wrists and ankles were other flashy, dangling pieces of jewelry, and from her bracelets there attached a long sash made out of the same fabric as her pants. Also cut from the same fabric was a veil that covered the lower half of her face, attached to a golden headdress.

"This was a bad idea..." Aika grumbled.

"The bartender says we should have a seat anyway," Fina replied, with a small smile. "At least all the seats on this side of the room are empty. Everyone seems to want to sit near the stage."

"I wonder why..." Aika murmured.

Vyse shrugged, then slipped in to a nearby table and plopped down. There were no chairs, just big pillows on the floor for them to sit on.

"I guess in Nasr, they always sit on the floor..." he said. The bartender came and gave them some drinks, and he tossed a few coins his way before leaning back with a soft groan.

"Man...what a day..." Aika's head dropped to the table. "We work our butts off in the heat, finally get to where we wanna go, and then we're stranded with enough money to last us about a moon or two without a ship. What are we supposed to do now?" Her voice ended on an almost panicked note. "I understand the Cap'n's reason for leaving, but...he had no right to just _strand_ us here, you know, Vyse?"

Vyse didn't hear a word she said.

"Vyse?" She blinked, then scowled and got in his face. "Vyse!"

Vyse jumped, suddenly realizing she was there. "Huh?"

Aika looked angry. "Were you listening to me?"

"Uhm...yeah...you were talking about the desert..." he replied.

She face faulted. "If you could pry your eyes away from that dancer for a moment and look over here..."

Vyse grinned guiltily. "Sorry, I just didn't want to insult her by...uh...ignoring her. New lands, new customs, you know."

Aika became absolutely livid. "What are you _talking_ about?! You act like you've never seen a girl before! You...you were undressing her with your eyes, not that it would take that long. I hope you weren't zooming in!"

"Okay, geez, cut me some slack!" Vyse scooted away from her, a bit defensively. "You've gotta admit, she's been watching me since we came in here..."

Aika sighed and dropped her head back to the table. "Fina, can you talk some sense into him?"

Fina blinked, peering at her over the top of her glass. "Hm? Do you really find it all that hard to believe?" She smiled, bashfully. "Vyse is very attractive. I don't think it's odd that she's looking over here."

"Haha..." Aika grinned in denial. "Vyse wouldn't want someone like her. I mean, who knows where she's been?"

"I have been all over Nasr, thank you," a deep voice said in Meridian from behind her. Vyse looked up, and Aika whirled around, only to find the dancer standing there.

Aika's eyes went wide. "Uh...uh...so you travel a lot?" she asked.

"Tell me...you wouldn't happen to be the group of air pirates that escaped from the Grand Fortress, would you?" the dancer asked.

Vyse blinked. "How do you know about that?"

The dancer smiled. "In a place like this, you hear all sorts of things. Rumors, gossip, news from the other lands..." She paused and took a seat beside him. "Even air pirates whining about not having a ship."

"It's kind of loud in here..." Fina said, with a small smile, "...but Aika was shouting. I'm sorry. We didn't mean to disrupt your dancing."

The dancer laughed softly. "Think nothing of it. I was going to take a break anyway. I cannot dance forever, you know. So...not to be intrusive, but you did sound pretty upset. Can you tell me what the problem is? Perhaps I can help."

"I thought you just _said_ you knew what the problem was..." Aika said, through clenched teeth. "We don't have a ship."

"But why is it imperative that you _need_ one?" the dancer asked, coolly.

"...We got stranded here by the man we were traveling with," Vyse replied, before Aika could say anything else. "He decided he had other business to attend to and just...left. We were on our way to...to the...what was it called again, Fina?"

"The temple of Pyrynn," she supplied for him, with a small smile. "Have you heard of it?"

"Heard of it? I've seen it with my own eyes." The dancer smiled. "But I would not dare go inside there. Many tales here say it is filled with deadly traps. I can not understand what the people of the Old World were thinking when they created such a place."

"The traps are there because there is a very important treasure inside..." Fina replied. "We were going to get the treasure, but..."

"Oh!" The dancer's eyes widened. "Not even the Black Pirates in this area think of going in there! You are very bold."

"Or crazy," Vyse replied, smirking. "Actually, Valua's after this treasure too, so we want to get it before they do."

"Is that so? Most interesting..." The dancer fell into a contemplative silence at that. "If Valua wants it...it must be quite valuable indeed. Do you know what it is? I have never heard of the Armada being overly fond of treasure hunting. The only thing I can think of within the temple walls that would have any value to them is the Moon Crystal..."

Fina blinked. "You know of the Moon Crystal?"

The dancer giggled. "Who here doesn't? Nasrad's scholars deciphered the Red Civilization's hieroglyphics long ago and learned a great deal about it. I only have general knowledge about such a legendary artifact, mind you, but rumors say the government knows of its exact location and might one day use it for revenge against Valua. You know how people are here. We resent Valua...what, after the war...We long to restore this nation's pride and honor."

Vyse nodded. "Yes, I've heard of that. You have reason to hate them, I guess, but not everyone in Valua is bad. I learned that from my time there."

"An encouraging thought." Again, she smiled. "I like you three, you seem like the honest sort. Anymore, the only audience I have are men like these looking for a good time. How about this? Tomorrow, if you meet me out on the docks, I will allow you on board my personal ship and I'll sail you to the Temple of Pyrynn myself. How does that sound?"

"No thanks," Aika replied, nastily. "You don't even know us. Why would you give us a ride?"

The dancer held up a finger, which was lacquered over with purple nail paint. "'Only one who has walked the desert can truly know its size' is a saying we have here in Nasr. Walking to the Temple of Pyrynn would kill you. I would feel guilty if that happened; the death would essentially be on me, because I had done nothing to help you even though I knew of your plight."

"You are most kind," Fina said, smiling warmly. "You have done a lot for us, and we don't even know your name..."

"Hadiya," the dancer said. "My name is Hadiya."

"I'm Vyse," Vyse replied, then gestured to the two girls. "This is Aika and Fina. We're Blue Rogues."

"I have always supported the actions of the Blue Rogues." Hadiya beamed. "I would never make a good air pirate myself, but I am glad I can give you some aid. Have you a place to stay the night?"

"No, and that's _your_ fault," Aika replied, tartly. "The inn has been filled up with sailors who came here to see _you_."

Hadiya gasped. "What? You can not be serious?"

"Believe me, I wish I weren't..." Aika murmured.

"Oh moons, I had no idea." Hadiya frowned. "You are right, I suppose that is my fault. As part of Nasr custom, then, I shall offer you lodging in my own house."

"Wonderful! I'll be sleeping on the roof," Aika replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Hadiya shrugged. "As you wish..."

"Really...we cannot thank you enough for your hospitality," Vyse replied. "Where is your house?"

"In a far corner of this lot. It's very tiny and really isn't much at all. I hope you do not mind."

Vyse chuckled. "We're air pirates, remember? None of us care for lavish stuff to begin with."

"Ah! Well, then, that is reassuring." Hadiya smiled, and fluidly rose to her feet. "I shall go tell the bartender I am leaving early, then. He will be angry with me for certain, but I've brought him more business than he has had in his lifetime, so he owes me at least this." She shook her head.

"Take your time. We'll meet you outside." Vyse grinned, then stood and headed for the door. Fina scooted out after him, and Aika begrudgingly followed, grumbling under her breath.

"You're head over heels for her, aren't you?" she bitterly asked in Valuan when they had gotten outside. "You _do_ realize she's like, five years older than you are."

"Calm _down_, Aika," Vyse replied, beginning to tire of her attitude. "I'll admit she's beautiful, but geez, after tomorrow we probably won't see her again anyways."

"You look jealous, Aika," Fina naively observed, blinking. "What are you jealous about?"

"Huh? Wha?" That caught Aika completely off guard, and she began to blush furiously. Vyse was suddenly very thankful for Silvite culture. "Jealous of what, that woman? No way! I just don't think she's trustworthy, that's all."

"And Drachma was?" he countered.

She fell silent. "...I guess I see your point."

Vyse shook his head. "Now let's stop talking Valuan before we're attacked or something."

A moment later, Hadiya returned, wrapped up in a lightweight cloak dyed a red that matched the color of the moon. She smiled as she approached them, and began leading the way. "It's not too long a walk. Still, I hate traveling in this tiny thing." She laughed. "Perhaps I should have chosen a different occupation."

"Perhaps..." Aika murmured.

"You are quite a talented dancer though, Hadiya," Fina replied, shyly.

"Why thank you," the dancer replied, positively beaming. "When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of making it big...of being famous on stage. But now it's become more of a hobby. I just happen to get paid for it." She smirked wryly to that. "Ah, here we are! My humble -- quite humble -- abode."

"Oh my...it's...quite small..." Fina said.

The house was indeed little, and quite run-down as well. It looked as if nobody had been living there for years, and yet Hadiya had attempted to brighten things up by planting a few little palm trees around it, some varying cacti, and some rare desert blooms. The curtains were a bright color as well, purple to no surprise, but other than that it was bleak and rather dilapidated.

"This is fine," Vyse said, reassuringly. "Like I said, you're only housing air pirates. Something this simple is perfect."

"I do hope you speak truly, Vyse." Hadiya unlocked the door and opened it for them, heading inside. They followed, Aika taking up the rear, who reluctantly kicked the door shut behind herself. It creaked and came off one hinge.

"Oops..." For once, the redhead looked quite guilty.

"Oh, it does that a lot." Hadiya frowned, studied the door, and then, in an unexpected display of what almost looked like martial arts, slammed her elbow against it. It jolted right back in to place.

"Wow." Vyse blinked. "Where'd you learn moves like that?"

"My father was a soldier," she said, with a small smile. "You pick up all sorts of things like that when you're an army brat. Now, please, sit down. I'll go change and then scare up a few extra blankets for you to sleep on."

Vyse nodded and took a seat, and Fina fluidly sank down beside him, onto a worn pillow on the floor. For the first time, he took a moment to study the interior of the house; it was almost completely bare. There were four tattered pillows on the floor, surrounding a low crate that had been fashioned into a makeshift table. In the corner was a fire pit and a water basin, above which a few shelves and cabinets sat -- the "kitchen". Adjoining the room, separated by another purple curtain, was what he assumed to be the bedroom. It was even tinier than where they currently sat. There was absolutely nothing in the way of decorations, and a single yellow moonstone lamp hanging above from the low roof was the only other source of light aside from the little round windows.

A few moments later, Hadiya returned wearing a simple cream-colored robe that covered her up a lot better than her dancing outfit did. With her she carried three rather threadbare blankets, old and faded.

"Here...I know they aren't much, but you don't really need to worry about staying warm in this place anyway."

Aika eyed the blankets, then cocked a slender brow and watched the dancer dubiously. "There's one thing I can't figure out," she said.

"What is that?" Hadiya asked.

"You don't know us. You just met us today. So _why_ are you helping us?" Aika demanded, her gaze stern.

"Hmph. You are not very grateful, are you?" Hadiya looked a little miffed. "If you were dying of thirst, and somebody offered you water, you would probably ask where it came from."

"What?!" Aika was both incredulous and ruffled.

Hadiya snorted, then turned away and looked out the window. Her face fell into an expression of sadness, and she sighed. "...Very well, then. I will tell you why I wish to help you." She closed her eyes, slumping down into a seat on the remaining vacant pillow. "As I said, my father was a soldier. He was poor and sometimes a little short-tempered, but he was a good man, and a good father. We struggled to get by, and my father was barely able to support us. We had nothing to rely on but each other, but we were happy. Until that day...twenty years ago...

"Twenty years ago, Valua and Nasr declared war on each other. And my father...he died in battle. When he died, we had nothing...no food...nobody to support us...nobody to raise us...we had to live on the _streets_. Some say you can't die from a broken heart, but they're wrong. My mother died soon after my father, she was so sad. I was alone, and scared. I had to fend for myself on the streets. And that's how I ended up living...like this.

"Ever since then, I've hated war. Hundreds of people die...hundreds of families have to go through what I went through. And that is why I'm letting you...no, I want you to use my ship...Please..."

"Oh, Hadiya...we had no idea..." Fina quietly replied, clasping her hands over her chest.

Aika had fallen silent. She looked heavily ashamed.

"Are you satisfied?!" Hadiya demanded of her. "Or have you any more demands?"

"No, I..." Aika drooped. "I'm sorry, Hadiya. I...I shouldn't have said what I did. I lost my parents when I was young, too. I know how you feel, and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't forgive me."

"As long as you understand...and do not take my generosity for granted. I can find it within myself to forgive you," Hadiya replied, forcing a smile. "I can not blame you for not trusting me. After spending so much time in Valua, with your lives on the end of a guard's bayonet, I would not trust people either were I in the same position."

"Let's forget about all this negative stuff, hm?" Vyse asked, smiling around at the three of them. "I think all of us need to relax. Let's spread out our blankets and get comfortable."

"Yes, a good idea." That seemed to make Hadiya a lot happier. "I will start the water boiling and make us some tea. I'm afraid I don't have the proper facilities to make a meal for all of us, so I'll head across town and get us some Kabal Skewers to eat for supper. The night is still young, and the sun is only now beginning to set. Perhaps you will do me the pleasure of telling me of your adventures in Valua over a game of mancala?"

* * *

The next morning arrived with a blazing sun and suffocating heat all too early. Uncomfortable in such excessive warmth, Vyse stirred and finally sat up, grumbling to himself. He was never an early riser, and neither was Aika, but Fina was already awake and at the fire pit, boiling some tea and talking to Hadiya, who held in her hands a little jar of salve.

"My goodness, no wonder you're so red..." she was saying as she gently smeared some salve onto the Silvite's shoulder. "I have never seen anyone so pale as you, Fina. You really must take care in the relentless sunlight of this country."

"Ow...ooh! Why does it sting so bad?" Fina winced softly.

"That is what sunburn does," Hadiya replied, amused. "Ah! Look who awakens. Good morning, Vyse."

"Mnrf..." Vyse rubbed groggily at the back of his head. "What time is it?"

"About eight." Hadiya grinned. "I'm under the impression that this is early for you."

"Yeah..." Vyse mumbled.

"Here! Have some tea." Fina shuffled over to him and knelt down, offering him a steaming glass in a bland little ceramic cup. "M-maybe it will help."

He smiled at her. She blushed and hurried back to the stove.

"I brought you some breakfast from town," Hadiya said, moving to rub more salve on Fina's back. "You all should fill up today; getting through that temple will be quite the undertaking."

"How far off is it?" Vyse asked, gratefully sipping his tea.

"Eight hours from here," Hadiya replied. "That is why I recommend we leave early. Fina and I went into town and stocked up on supplies for the voyage, so if you feel the need to stay the night there, we'll be prepared. I know you are in a hurry, but you should not overdo it in such a case."

"That's fine. I'll want my wits about me before I start running around, disarming traps," Vyse said, with a yawn.

"Yes...those traps are the main reason that not even the Nasr government dares to venture close to the Temple," Hadiya said, frowning a little. "Nobody really knows what is out there, and frankly, they don't wish to risk finding out. I don't believe the outside of the temple is booby trapped, but inside...no treasure-hunter has ever returned from inside..."

"So nobody knows what's in there," Vyse concluded.

Hadiya nodded, setting some food out on the table. "Of course, there's rumors: spikes that fall from the ceilings, arrows that shoot from the walls, trap doors that open up beneath you and drop you to your doom...but no, nobody is for certain. Some people argue, 'If you wish to retrieve the moon crystal, why not blow up the temple?' but it is as impregnable as the Valuan Grand Fortress, made of a very strong stone that cannon fire cannot even chip away at. Plus, who would want to destroy a part of their own history?"

The scent of food wafted over to Aika on the warm desert air, and her nose twitched as she began to stir. Sleepily, she pushed herself up and looked around, sniffing around her vicinity curiously.

"Mmm...something smells good..." she groggily murmured.

"Good morning, Aika," Fina greeted, placing some tea in front of her with a smile. "Are you ready to head out today."

"Hmm? Whoa! Fina, you look like a lobster!" Aika blinked.

Fina blushed, but it wasn't very visible on her already-red face. "Y-yes...I'm sorry..."

Vyse scooted up to the table when he noticed Cupil in the corner gnawing on some skewers leftover from the night before. The Apis was as pink as his mistress.

"Fina? What happened to Cupil?" he asked with a blink, beginning to fork up his breakfast. "Is he sunburned, too?"

"Hmm? Oh, no!" Fina giggled. "That's the effect that red moonstones have on him. He changes color based on what moonstone he comes into contact with. He tried to eat a red one earlier and now he's pink."

"Interesting." Aika blinked, then bent to her breakfast.

An hour later, they were airborne again, with Hadiya at the helm of her ship. It was very tiny, decorated with huge eyes on the bow, and propelled by four paddles on each side. A tent set up on deck was the only shelter they had, for there was no real cabin. They huddled together in it, desperately attempting to avoid the sun, especially Fina, who constantly had to reapply Hadiya's burn salve to her skin. Vyse could tell the cramped little ship was fairly old, but what surprised him was the fact that Hadiya was a very skilled sailor. Her ease at the helm was uncanny.


	11. The Sands of Time

The Temple of Pyrynn looked as though it had only recently been built. There was no wear on the smooth stonework left by weather and sand, no cracks left by the shifting earth, and no signs of any looting, either. Golden archways, which had visible traces of red moonstones in them, paved a path along a long courtyard to a massive pyramid on the eastern end, to which a long flight of steep stairs scaled up. Sitting beside it, as if to guard it, was an enormous statue even larger than the temple itself. It had the body of a powerful feline and the head of a human, and was posed to look as though it was laying down. The detail carved into each crevice and curve of the mythical beast was startling; it looked ready to come alive at any given second. Beside it was a tiny altar with a strange indentation inside, as if it was awaiting an offering.

"What in the world is that?" Aika asked, in awe.

"The people of Nasr call it Sphinx," Hadiya replied. "I'm...not sure exactly what it is _supposed_ to be."

"In the Old World, the people of the Red Civilization called it Spharnos," Fina explained. "They believed that it was the form that the Fire God took on when he came down from the Red Moon to the islands. It is a very sacred statue."

"Interesting." Vyse blinked.

"Sphinx does offer good shelter from the wind..." Hadiya observed, thoughtfully. "I believe I will pull the ship around to this side of it. We can set up camp there between its forearms. That should be safe."

"Good idea," Aika replied. "That way its head can shelter us from the sun."

"We'll have to stay here overnight anyways." Vyse nodded. "Let's set up camp, get dinner going, and then scope this place out. We need to make sure there's a safe way inside and that there isn't anything out here that can hurt us. Hadiya, are you going to come?"

"I can help you out here, but I'm afraid I won't be of much use to you inside." Hadiya smiled apologetically. "In confined spaces my robes are likely to catch on something, and I'm not exactly a skilled treasure hunter."

"I understand. It _is_ likely to be a bit rough in there for a beautiful lady like yourself," Vyse replied.

"Oh? And what exactly are Fina and I?" Aika demanded.

"Er...that's not what I meant!" Vyse protested.

Hadiya only laughed. "You are all so funny. Seeing how close of friends you are really warms my heart."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure a beautiful lady like _yourself_ has a much better man than...Mister Foot-In-His-Mouth," Aika said.

"Haha...no, sorry, there is nobody special in my life right now." Hadiya smiled, but it was a sad smile. She paused to brush a wavy lock of ebony hair from her eyes. "Well...there is someone I am in love with, but...he would never give me a second look. I am not worthy of him."

"If you truly believe that, then he'll never love you." Aika smiled, reassuringly. "Don't give up! Perhaps he's just having a hard time expressing his feelings."

"Well...he is a pretty quiet man..." Hadiya admitted. She looked a little relieved. "Thank you, Aika. I shall keep your advice in mind."

With that, they returned to the ship to bring it around the courtyard and land it next to Sphinx. Each of them carried out a part of the camp and soon had a large tent pitched and a campfire going, all safely nestled between the forearms of the massive guardian beast. Fina and Aika began to set to work making dinner while Hadiya moored her ship against the statue and Vyse secured the tent so it would not blow down in the hot desert winds. When he was finished, he was surprised to notice Hadiya, out of the corner of his eye, scaling the statue. Confused, he followed her up, but she was far more agile and beat him to the back of the beast in no time. He had barely gotten up that far when she was on its shoulders and then climbing its head, and he scrambled to follow. By the time he had reached the head himself, he realized he had scaled to a dizzying height. The forms of Aika and Fina below were minuscule.

"So, you followed me up?" Hadiya was amused. In her hand was a little red flag.

"What's that for?" Vyse asked, blinking.

"It's a beacon. So people can find us," she explained, propping the flag up with some rocks she had brought with her. "If we get stranded here for some reason, or one of you gets hurt, we'll be recognizable from afar. That way, people can come to our aid."

"You really planned everything out, didn't you?" he asked with a smirk, impressed.

"My father used to always tell me that preparation is the key to victory. I believe that you can never be too prepared, especially when in the middle of nowhere like this." She hesitated, looking like she wanted to say something else, but decided against it.

"Are you really that worried?" he asked, at last.

"Your safety is not what I'm overly concerned about." She smiled a bit. "Anyone who can break out of Madera can most definitely take care of themselves. I don't know how to explain it, I just...have a terrible feeling in my gut about tomorrow." She gazed off at the setting sun in the distance, frowning. "I have a feeling I'm going to do something I will deeply regret."

"You aren't going to strand us like our captain did, are you?" he asked.

Hadiya chuckled. "I wouldn't dream of it! For all we've been through already, I would never leave you here to die. However...sometimes I have to wonder if I'm heading down the right path in my life. I've made many decisions that I regret already, and I'm still young. I am told who my enemies are and what I should be doing, and mechanically, I respond to that. But sometimes I wonder if I should listen to my own heart more, as a friend of mine failed to do..."

Her words were cryptic; Vyse couldn't really understand them. Perhaps this was the poetic language of Nasr that Aika had mentioned earlier.

"...Hadiya."

"Yes?"

"If you're so unhappy with your current lifestyle, why don't you come with us?" Vyse locked gazes with her, his face completely serious. "You don't have to be good at raiding to be a Blue Rogue -- look at Fina. You wouldn't call her a typical air pirate, would you? There's nothing more important in life than following your heart, and your dreams...You've helped us out so much, and I want to return something to you."

Hadiya smiled, and stood. Leaning over, she planted a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Stay alive in the coming future, Vyse. That is all the thanks I need." And with that, she began to climb back down the statue.

* * *

As darkness fell upon the _Little Jack _like a diamond-studded blanket, Drachma considered altering his course once he had passed back through the stone reef to spend the night in Nasrad. He had left Maramba far behind and now was about an hour from Nasr's capital city, and he certainly needed refueling. Fina's spell on his engine, whatever that had been, had long ago worn off and he had spent most of the day working to keep it cool. He had to admit to himself that he did miss the extra hands aboard his ship, if only for that reason.

Deciding that Nasrad was too far out of the way, the old man dropped anchor and simply stopped his ship for the night. He went below deck to cook himself dinner, bland compared to the meals Aika and Fina used to make, and then sat down, alone, at his makeshift table and began to eat. The ship was quiet, save for the loud hum of the engine down below that he had by now learned to ignore. There was no chattering, no teasing, no storytelling and laughing. All there was to fill the empty void was silence.

As big of a man as he was, with the mammoth appetite he usually possessed, Drachma found himself not hungry. He sat there, poking at his food with a fork, staring emptily down at his plate.

"Dammit!" he cried in a sudden outburst, throwing his fork at the wall. He watched it hit the old wood and bounce off, clattering as it hit the floor.

Try as he may, he could not escape his past, and now there it was looking back at him in the form of a roguish boy who had no relation to him whatsoever. Vyse was too much for him, far too much. His carefree attitude, willingness to help, dauntlessness, bravery, curiosity, adventurousness; all were traits that Drachma had tried so hard to forget about. They were phantoms of the past to him, memories lost and gone bad.

_Should I have left those kids alone? Bah! What am I worryin' about? Someone else'll take care o'em._

He tried to convince himself of that, but he couldn't. Vyse was still young and inexperienced as a sailor, even after all that Drachma had taught him in the passing moons. Aika was too headstrong; he knew her mouth would get her into deep trouble. Fina was so frail and fragile, with absolutely no understanding of the free world whatsoever. Could those three really be able to make it on their own?

"Of course they could!" he replied to himself, out loud.

But then something caught his eye, a reflection in the rear windows of the cabin. Turning his head, Drachma noticed something moving in the distance past the bow of his ship and hurried to the window, grabbing his spyglass from where it rested on the dashboard of the control console. Bringing it into focus, he realized his suspicions were indeed correct.

That was no ordinary ship passing in the distance. It was a Valuan flagship. Its sleek, rounded form, compact size, and pink color were all very non-traditional as far as Valuan ships went, but it was those exact traits that identified it in blazing glory. It was the _Lynx_, the flagship of Valua's fourth admiral, Belleza Diaz.

"Impossible..." he murmured. "She couldn't have. S'no way..."

Grunting, he raised his anchor and started his engine again. He couldn't sit around anymore.

* * *

"Alright! Treasure hunting time!"

Aika exploded from the tent with an enormous grin, grabbing two empty pots from the campfire and pounding them together rather obnoxiously. "Wake up everybody! Let's go!"

"Quiet down!" Vyse tossed his pillow out the tent flap at her. Fina laughed from within.

"Mmnh...you're going to give me a headache." Hadiya poked her head out of the tent. She had wrapped her hair up in a turban for the night to keep the sand out of it and now looked quite odd in all her grogginess. "Calm down, we're coming. The sun has barely risen, you know."

By the time Fina had come out and Vyse and Hadiya had drug themselves from the tent, Aika already had breakfast done. Vyse could not recall a time in all the years he had known her that Aika had ever been perky when she woke up in the morning -- let alone, when she woke up this early. But she was quickly stuffing her food down her throat, faster than even he normally did. He doubted she really even needed the food; her adrenaline would have fueled her on for the rest of the day.

When they were finished with their breakfast, they each took turns changing out of their sleeping wear in the privacy of the tent, save for Hadiya, who smiled and said she would go back to sleep for a little longer while they were gone. That was agreeable, so as they finished their packing and prepared to leave, the dancer crawled back into her tent and burrowed herself beneath the blankets, quickly falling asleep.

"I really misjudged her..." Aika was saying as they began the long hike across the courtyard and up the stairs. "She's a great person. I can't believe how much she's helped us out."

"Yeah, I know." Vyse smiled a bit, but he couldn't help but to think back to what Hadiya had told him the evening before. "I hope there's a lot of treasure in the temple...we can give some to her to help her out. Nobody should have to live in poverty."

"Ooh, I bet you anything that there's tons in there!" Aika chirped, excitedly. "I bet there's gold, and jewels, and nice clothing, and magic items, and...and stuff. Hey, Fina! What's the first thing you'll buy when we get back to Maramba?"

"B-buy?" Fina blinked, caught totally off guard. "Uhm...I...excuse me, but...what exactly does that mean?"

Aika fell over.

Vyse blinked. "What are you doing?"

"Fina! You seriously don't know what it means to buy stuff?" Aika asked from the ground, incredulous.

Fina blushed and looked away ashamedly. "I-I'm sorry...this is just my first out in the world, and...everything is so new to me..."

"You don't need to look hard to find a shop..." Aika said, climbing to her feet and dusting herself off. Her gaze as it rested on Fina was concerned, even as they resumed their climb up the pyramid. "Everyone buys things. It's...it's normal. You really don't get out much, do you?"

"I'm sorry..."

"You've done nothing wrong," Vyse said, with a smirk.

Aika continued to prattle on about treasure as they made their long ascension. The height of the stairs was nothing compared to the climb up Sphinx Vyse had made the other day, but it was still enough to leave them panting by the time they reached the landing. There, they found a huge door right before them, and four smaller Sphinx statues, all sitting back on their haunches, guarding the entrance.

Vyse approached the door and, as the Shrine doors had, it slid open as if sensing his presence, and was quick to close behind them once they had all stepped through. What they were greeted with on the other side was a small, dim lobby, full of ancient paintings of animal-headed people, dark Nasreans bowing to them, and odd symbols on the wall that Fina called hieroglyphics. The oddest thing was that there were torches burning around them, faintly illuminating their path with flickering orange light. Vyse was dumbfounded.

"Who put those here?"

"They've been burning since the day this temple was completed," Fina replied, with a little smile. "Fire never dies within the confines of the Temple of Pyrynn."

"There must be some pretty powerful magic surrounding this place, then," Aika remarked, scanning the area. "It's kinda creepy here, though...so dark and mysterious..."

"That's half the fun of it!" Vyse grinned, then carefully scanned the area. "Alright...nobody make any sudden moves. We've got all day to get through here, and we can even spend the night if we must. No matter what, we must move slowly, or we could spring a trap."

"I'll send Cupil ahead of us to sniff them out," Fina offered. "If one springs, it won't hurt him. He can only be hurt if I'm hurt. Go on, Cupil! Lead the way."

The Apis squeaked and ventured forward, waving his fins excitedly.

Cupil led them down a long corridor at a steady pace, and to their surprise, it sloped downward towards the base of the gigantic pyramid. It certainly wasn't a scenic walk, but it was a long one, and Vyse was relieved when they emerged into a smaller chamber with two hallways leading off in different directions sprouting from it. In the middle was a gap in the floor, far too wide to jump, which cradled a huge pit of fire far down below. Two identical rope bridges suspended over it, one on each side of the pit, but there was evidence that other bridges had been there at one point, in the large gap between the two.

"It appears we've found our first trap," Fina said.

"What?" Aika blinked. "Already?"

Fina nodded. "You can tell there have been people here before us...and many have apparently fallen to their deaths." She pointed to the remains of the other bridges. "These bridges were weakened on purpose...only one is strong enough to cross, I'm sure. People, seeking treasure, likely walked on the wrong one and..."

Aika winced. "So...how do we tell which one is the right one? They both look perfectly fine to me."

"We don't." Fina shrugged a bit. "Cupil will have to test them for us by putting his weight on each."

"What weight?" Vyse blinked. "I don't think he even weighs a pound!"

"Well...uhm...he doesn't." Fina giggled a bit. "But he can increase his size."

Cupil squeaked at the three of them quizzically, and Fina nodded to him, gesturing to the bridges. He abruptly vanished, then popped out of nowhere, right over the bridge on their left. Without hesitation, the Apis opened his mouth wide and began to suck in air, rapidly inflating himself and drastically increasing his size. Soon he was the size of a large Huskra and resembled a silver balloon, and he slowly lowered himself to the bridge. It sagged under his weight. Experimentally, he began to bounce himself up and down on it, but it held firm beneath him and barely moved despite the disturbance. Satisfied, the Apis released all his air and went jetting backwards, right into Fina's arms.

She giggled. "It looks like that's the right one."

"I'll go first, just in case," Vyse said.

Before either girl could reply, he braced himself and then dashed across the wooden bridge. It bounced a bit more beneath his feet than it had beneath Cupil's weight, but it held firm. Aika swiftly followed, and Fina more timidly so, but soon they were all safely on the other side.

"Hah! That was easy!" Vyse remarked, then resumed the lead.

The next hallway was considerably shorter, and it lead to a deep room with elegant catwalks and balconies suspended over a shallow pool of water. Vyse didn't understand why there was water in a fire temple, but carefully made his way across the walks nevertheless and safely to the bottom. For a moment, he contemplated the reflections of the three of them in the water; they looked considerably rougher now than they had before Fina had arrived, but Vyse didn't regret any of it.

Cupil froze as soon as they arrived in the next hallway, however. The Apis refused to budge, and would not let Vyse pass. He could see the hallway lined with traces of bone, but most of them had been ground into powder. Remains of clothing were strewn across the floor, which was dappled in rust-colored stains.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Look above you," Fina said.

Vyse looked up. Right above him, just out from the doorway in which he stood, was a large hole in the ceiling. He couldn't tell where it went.

"...What is that?"

"Something must drop down from out of it..." Aika said. "But what?"

"Let's check..." Carefully, Vyse drew a cutlass and crouched down. He tapped it against the floor beneath the hole, then withdrew it, as he had with the flooded doors. To his shock, a giant boulder dropped down, and he scrambled backwards as fast as he could. It filled up the entire passageway as it rolled down it, and then disappeared into the darkness.

"...Great." Aika blinked. "What are we supposed to do about this?"

"Cupil's not strong enough to cover the hole..." Fina frowned, thoughtfully. "It may be possible to freeze it over, but I'm not sure how long ice magic would last in here..."

"Do you think we could outrun it?" Vyse asked, although even as he considered the idea he eyed the tunnel skeptically.

"That did those guys a world of good." Aika gestured to the floor.

Fina frowned. "I know there has to be a way around it. There's safety mechanisms for all these traps. They were built to keep people out, yes, but if the people of the Red Civilization wanted to return for their Moon Crystal they needed a way around them. Cupil, fly down the tunnel and look around, please."

The Apis squeaked and flew off again, quickly vanishing into the darkness. It was only a minute or so before he returned, and he prattled something off to Fina in a series of squeaks that Vyse couldn't understand. Her frown only deepened as she "listened" to him.

"Well?" Aika asked.

"He says there's alcoves in the wall at regular intervals that you can duck into to let the boulder roll past. But a lot of these alcoves have marked tiles that trigger some sort of spear trap when they're stepped on."

"Oh jeez." Aika grit her teeth. "They're really serious about this stuff, aren't they?"

"I don't think ducking into those alcoves will be any safer." Vyse frowned. "We'll be in such a hurry that we won't ever see those marked tiles."

Cupil squeaked at Fina again. She nodded at him distractedly, lost in thought.

"...I have an idea."

Vyse and Aika blinked at her.

"I know a way we can probably outrun the boulder."

"How?" Vyse asked.

"I'll freeze over the ramp and we'll slide down it. The ice will also coat any trigger tiles and we won't accidentally trip them."

"Won't that just make the boulder go faster too, though?" Aika asked.

"No." Fina smiled a little. "Because you'll melt the ice behind us. I know you're good at fire magic, and you'll find it will be even more powerful in here. Do you think you can do it?"

"Of course I can!" Aika grinned. "This'll be fun!"

"Alright, let's go then," Vyse said, adjusting his pack over his shoulder. "We only get one shot!"

Nodding, Fina crouched down and placed her hands on the floor, her eyes growing distant. As she murmured quietly under her breath, Vyse could feel the temperature drop noticeably in the room and for a moment hearkened back to when Aika had attempted ice magic, worried that Fina was going to misfire as well. Instead, a thick sheet of ice began to form beneath Fina's palms, and with a subtle gesture she sent it spreading outwards, down the dark passage before them. Vyse watched in wonder as the dry stone floor became a smooth layer of crystal, sparkling dully in the muted firelight.

"Hurry!" Fina cried. "I know it won't hold for long!"

Huddling together, the three took a running start and jumped, sliding unsteadily down the iced corridor. Up above, they heard an ominous rumbling, and Aika couldn't help but to cry out as another boulder came crashing down for them. Turning herself around as best she could, she began to cast every fire spell she could, effectively turning the frozen path behind them into little more than steam.

The alcoves Cupil had pointed out to them whizzed past in a blur, each one illuminated by torches. Vyse caught glimpses of skeletal figures impaled on spears in some of them and decided it was better to keep his eyes on the path ahead. But the boulder was faster than any of them had anticipated, and Aika realized it was gaining ground.

"We're not gonna make it!" she cried. "We're still not fast enough!"

"We'll make it..." Fina nearly whispered, clinging to Vyse as she almost spun out of control. "Aika! Vyse! Hold on tight!"

Fina brought her hands together and began to focus again. Suddenly there came a blast of cool air and the three went tumble-sliding forward, even faster than they had before. Carried on the strange, invisible current, they abruptly found themselves flying out of the tunnel and crashing into an adjacent wall. With a final, monstrous crash, the boulder fell into a pit behind them and vanished into the blackness.

"What was that?" Vyse asked, peeling himself off the wall.

"No way! You know Blue Magic too?" Aika, stuck upside-down over herself, boggled over at Fina. "Where did you learn all this hard stuff?"

Fina simply blushed, picking herself up off the ground and dusting herself off. She looked a little winded. "It's...normal for people to practice magic where I come from..."

"You have got to teach me when we get out of here," Aika replied, brown eyes wide. "I don't think anyone knows how to control all the elements here."

The next room was covered in trigger tiles, and Fina couldn't tell which were real and which were fake. After experimentally tripping a few, Cupil found that some of them opened trap doors into a void below and others caused spikes to protrude from the wall. The three of them crawled along on their bellies to avoid the latter, with Cupil keeping ahead of them to detect the former. When they were through, Vyse directed Cupil left and found himself facing a winding hallway that twisted its way back up. Unable to ignore his curiosity, he followed it and found himself overlooking the room with the pool in it once more on a catwalk they previously had been unable to reach. Following it, the trio emerged in a small room filled with five large granite boxes. Hieroglyphics and winged women were scribbled all over their faces.

"Are these chests, or tombs?" Aika asked.

"It _was_ traditional for the people of the Red Civilization to put their deceased kings in sarcophagi and bury them within pyramids like this, but..." Fina was thoughtful. "...Those pyramids were much smaller than this and nearly all were decimated by the Rains. I don't believe anyone held enough status, even the kings, to be buried within the sacred Temple of Pyrynn."

"Well...let's take a peek." Rubbing her hands together, Aika approached one of the boxes and braced herself against the floor, pushing with all her might against the heavy lid. It slid open; she peeked inside, shrieked, and jumped back. "Eww! A dead guy!"

"Pharaoh Sharamad," Fina read out loud, translating some of the writing on the sarcophagus. "Father of the great Spharnos."

"He built that statue outside?" Aika asked.

"No..." Fina blinked, staring down into the sarcophagus at the mummy inside, and all the treasures tucked securely around him. "Pharaoh Sharamad was one of the six Moon Kings. He was the man who distilled the Red Moon Crystal and created the Red Gigas. In the Old World, the people of the Red Civilization called the Gigas Spharnos as well; my people call it Recumen."

"I guess it makes sense why they buried him in here..." Vyse said, after heaving another sarcophagus open. "The rest of these things seem to be full of corpses too. Are these his relatives?"

"But...treasure..." Aika pouted.

Fina couldn't stop staring at the mummy. Something was quite clearly bothering her, but Vyse couldn't tell what. After a moment, he came up beside her and put an arm over her shoulders concernedly. She abruptly snapped out of her trance and looked up at him, almost confused.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Oh, I...the mummy...I'm wondering if I should take his necklace..."

Vyse blinked. "You don't have to be afraid to steal, Fina. It's always for a good cause when you're a Blue Rogue. Although stealing from a dead man is kind of crossing the line for us..."

Fina looked away, ashamedly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I-it just looked important..."

Vyse turned his head to study the necklace. Dangling from a long gold chain around the mummy's neck was a large golden key, with a prism of red moonstone embedded into its hilt.

"...I don't think that belongs to him," he said, at last. "It's not as old-looking as the other treasure inside."

"Hey, you're right." Aika peered over the edge of the sarcophagus and studied the key. "Good eye, Vyse. You're sure learning how to identify this stuff." She grinned.

"If that's the case...we should take it," Fina replied. "It must unlock something in here."

"Gotcha." Vyse reached for the key, but she grabbed his hand frantically, eyes wide.

"No, don't!"

"Huh? Why?" He blinked, bewildered.

"The key has been cursed with the silver spell Eternum. It will kill you on contact."

"How can you tell?" Aika asked.

"Silver magic has a special energy to it...it's easy to detect. At least...if you're a Silvite." Fina blushed a bit. "Please...let me get it. I know how to negate the spell."

Vyse nodded. "Be careful..."

But Fina made it look easy. Closing her eyes, she reached for the key, and as her fingers touched it, small sparks of silver went flying -- and then it was over. She carefully removed it from the mummy's neck and shuffled back over to Vyse, shivering.

"That is a horrible spell."

Vyse studied her as he pocketed the key. She looked ghostly pale and ready to collapse. "Fina...do you need to rest?"

"I think I'll be alright," she replied after a moment, clasping her hands over her chest. "It's a very powerful spell – such things take a lot of energy to diffuse. But I don't want to stop now. If we found the key, we must be close."

"I understand. But don't push yourself too much, alright?" Vyse turned, studied the room, and then frowned. "Nothing else here. I guess we have to backtrack."

Aika nodded. "Let's go."

A few minutes' traipsing found them back in the winding hallway from whence they had originally came. Vyse turned left and continued to follow it farther, until it opened into more little rooms filled with booby traps. He noticed a nearly invisible network of trip wires cleverly concealed behind various statues and works of art and began to set about disarming them. Some simply needed to be sprung and they would no longer have to worry, but many would reset and it would take timing -- sometimes along with makeshift lockpicking tools made out of Aika's hairpins – to disable the others. Every once in a while, they'd stumble across a small pile of bones and clothing, but eventually that stopped. It soon became apparent that they were the first people to ever delve so far into the Temple.

At last the maze of tiny rooms stopped and they hit a dead-end. They were in a large room with a high-arching roof decorated in bright desert murals. On the far end of the rectangular chamber, there sat the statue of a bird-headed god on a golden throne, with the Red Moon crowning his head. Below him was a large depression in the floor that looked to have at one point in time been a pool, but now it was little more than a pit with five large columns and five large holes in it.

"What's this supposed to be?" Aika asked.

"This was likely a meditation room," Fina replied, gazing up at the statue, which seemed to return her look steadfastly. "Originally, this temple was built by the Red Civilization to serve as the center of all religion in the kingdom. But after the war began, the people of the Red Civilization converted it into a fortress so they and their Gigas could protect each other. Therefore, I'm guessing this must be some sort of puzzle. It would appear we need to push those columns into the corresponding holes."

"What?" Vyse blinked. "Those things are huge!"

"Each civilization valued two specific traits, traits that were the powers of their respective moons," Fina said. "The Red Civilization valued courage and strength, which are traits of Fire. Because of this, most red magic is purely offensive."

"That still doesn't explain how we move the columns," Aika pointed out.

"I-I'm sorry. I was getting to that." Fina blushed. "Aika...do you know the spell Increm?"

Aika nodded. "Yeah, Vyse's mom taught it to me. It increases -- oh, I see what you're getting at."

"It increases physical strength," Fina finished for her, smiling. "If we cast it on Vyse, he should be able to move the columns."

"Why me?" Vyse asked.

Aika smirked at him. "Do either Fina or I look particularly burly to you?" she asked. "In other words, you're the strongest of the three of us."

He grinned. "I guess I see your point."

Fina giggled a little and nodded to Aika. "Do you mind? I need more time to recover."

"Of course not! Here, Vyse, hold still. This won't hurt...I think."

Aika came up behind Vyse and lifted his arms out to the sides, closing her eyes as she again focused her energy for spellcasting. Vyse could feel a vibrant heat radiating from her fingertips and into his body, and it began to make him feel restless – not because it was unpleasant, but because he felt unusually energetic. When at last she let go of him and stepped back, his body felt as though it were chiseled from stone, and he felt ready to move the temple from its very base and carry it all the way back to Maramba. He had never felt so energized in all his life.

"It only lasts a few minutes..." Fina said, softly. "It's probably best to hurry, but we can always re-cast it."

"What do I push where?" he asked.

"Move the blue ones into the blue holes and the red one into the red hole. It's not difficult." Fina smiled.

Vyse dropped down into the hole and approached one of the columns. It was crammed into a corner and not readily accessible, proving that the people who had created the puzzle intended it to be more of a test of strength than of wits. He approached the column, which appeared to actually be part of a pillar covered in hieroglyphs that had been divided into five pieces, and placed his hands against it. The stone was a bit rough, but cool, and feeling its density made him want to test his strength against it even more.

He glanced back at Fina. She smiled to him, shyly, and nodded her head to gesture for him to go on. Encouraged by the simple gesture, Vyse gripped his fingers around one edge of the column and gave it a hard tug. Fire flowed through his veins and coalesced into the very tips of his fingers, giving him a huge adrenaline rush. Before he knew it, the column, which was several times his size, was rolling away from the corner effortlessly.

"Whoa!" he heard Aika exclaim.

Vyse's face broke into a grin that reached ear-to-ear. Stretching out his arms, he charged for the pillar and tackled it, shoving it with most his might. It skidded across the ground, jumped, then got caught on the edge of one of the holes and fell inside, and an audible clicking noise resonated from somewhere beneath him.

"Whoo!" he cried, rolling his shoulders. "This is great! I feel invincible!"

"Keep going, Macho Man!" Aika called down to him, with a laugh. "Get the other ones in there!"

Vyse wasted no time in doing so. He hefted the second pillar away from its resting place with little trouble, rolling it across the pit and into its corresponding hole. The third followed effortlessly, but the fourth one seemed to be a bit more work. By the time he had reached the red pillar, he was having a bit of a struggle.

"Oh...the spell must be wearing off. Hurry, Vyse!" Fina called.

Vyse grunted and braced himself against the wall, pushing outwards with his legs. The column slowly rolled forward, over its predecessors, and finally dropped into the hole with a loud thud. Panting, Vyse plopped to the ground and wiped the sweat from his brow.

Fina and Aika were hastening down to him when the room began to tremble, knocking the two off their feet. Cupil squeaked in alarm and started bouncing off the walls, searching for traps, but what they all found instead was that the ceiling was growing higher above them. No, Vyse realized, the floor was sinking! Praying to the moons that it wasn't a trap, he crawled over to the girls and helped to steady them as the floor began to drop unevenly, however slowly. The wall continued to stretch and grow above them like a summer weed, revealing new hieroglyphics, pictures, and supportive pillars, but eventually there came a new door as well. Soon afterwards the floor settled again with the soft grinding of stone and some settling of dust, and then, all was quiet.

"More sinking floors..." Aika blinked.

"That was weird." Slowly, Vyse climbed to his feet and dusted himself off. "But it seems to have opened up the way for us. Let's keep moving."

The girls followed after him. When Vyse opened the door, Aika tackled him to the ground. He was bewildered, until he heard a sharp _swoosh_ing sound over his head. When he looked up, he saw a pendulum-like blade had swung down from the roof, and that Fina was fretting immensely. After calming her down, they descended into a maze of antechambers, each piled full of treasure. Aika kept wanting to "take some souvenirs", but Vyse refused, pointing out that all the chests looked booby-trapped. She griped at him the rest of the way, but he tactfully ignored her and continued following the passage on its way down. As he reached a new door, after weaving his way through more rooms, however, he paused.

"This door is blazing hot. Can you feel that? I'm not so sure I should touch it."

"Yes, you're right..." Fina frowned, thoughtfully. "A considerable amount of heat is radiating from it."

"What could be on the other side?" Aika asked, blinking.

"We've been heading down for quite a while now," Fina said. "I don't think we're actually in the temple anymore. We're underground, beneath it. I think that heat must be coming from lava."

"Lava?" Vyse asked. "What's that?"

"Lava is rock...pure earth...that has become so hot that it has melted into a liquid form," Fina replied. "When lava cools and hardens, it becomes land."

"So the islands are made out of lava?" Aika asked.

Fina nodded. "Exactly. It is the hottest substance that my people know of. Simply being within range of its heat can melt the soles of your boots away."

"So what do we do?" Aika asked.

"Vyse...did you see any other doors around here?" Fina asked instead.

Vyse shook his head. "This is the only one."

"Then...I...I guess we have to go through this room..." Fina frowned. "I...don't know how we're supposed to do that, though. I-I can't shield us from the elements..."

"Wait...elements? Is that all the problem is?" Vyse asked.

Fina nodded. "The heat alone will seriously harm us."

Vyse shook his head, grinning. "That won't be a problem. Aika! All we need is your Delta Shield!"

Aika blinked and looked ready to fall over. "Vyse, I don't know if I can shield three people. I only used it that one time on myself when we hit that ship carrying Valuan mage apprentices – and that's because my mom had taught it to me the day before."

"Then take Fina, and I'll stay behind," Vyse said.

"N-no! That's not safe!" Fina looked horrified. "You might not be able to get out! You must come with us!"

Her genuine concern caught him off guard. Aika looked a little surprised too. But abruptly, the redhead shook herself, gesturing towards the door.

"We're being silly. Vyse, you're always telling me to just give things a try, right?" She smiled. "I can try this, then. I promise I'll do my best."

"That's all I can ask for," he replied, returning the smile.

Aika positively beamed. "Well...here, then, both of you take my hands. Either Vyse or Cupil is going to have to open the door..."

"Cupil says he volunteers," Fina replied.

"Haha...alright, perfect. Just put your trust in me...and I'll protect you as best I can." Aika offered the both of them her hands.

Fina scooted up to her and took her right hand, and Vyse took her left. She gave his hand a little squeeze, but wouldn't return his gaze when he looked at her quizzically. When she was sure they were ready, Aika closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. A cool, prickly feeling began to rise through Vyse's body, starting in his feet and spreading upwards until it made his cheeks tingle. Following in a similar manner soon afterwards was an array of multicolored light, a translucent veil of purples, yellows, pinks, whites, and blues that formed a shell around them. The feeling of heat blasting them from the door suddenly vanished.

"Oh!" Fina exclaimed.

Aika grinned. "Let's go, guys! Go ahead, Cupil!"

Cupil squeaked excitedly and then rammed himself into the door, bouncing back resiliently. Upon contact, it slowly began to grind open, and the shield rippled and shimmered momentarily as it was hit with an overwhelming wave of heat. Aika tensed and fought to control it, gritting her teeth and hunching over a bit, but eventually she prevailed and they stepped through, the door closing behind them.

And then...

Vyse beheld a sight unlike any he had seen before. They were in a massive cavern, so dark that he couldn't tell exactly where it began or where it ended, but a good majority of it was lit in an aura of hot red light. Cascading down from the far wall was a pillar of fire; a heavy, viscous liquid was pouring from it, thick, hot, and dappled in yellows, oranges, reds and blacks. It melded almost seamlessly into an ocean of the stuff about a hundred feet below them, which burbled and hissed angrily to itself, slowly flowing towards the left side of the cavern. Suspended above it was a broad and winding passageway that had crumbled, leaving occasional gaps in rather inconvenient places. They would have to weave their way across it. From what Vyse could tell, the passageway went down, even closer to the strange, obviously blazing liquid. Set around the cavern, carved out of the stone walls, were a variety of animal-headed gods. Everything was distorted by the rippling heat, and things looked almost impossibly far off.

"Is this lava?" Aika asked.

Fina nodded. "Yes."

"I'm not so sure about this passage," Vyse said, frowning thoughtfully. "We're gonna have to take care crossing it. Just by looking at that stuff...I know Delta Shield couldn't protect us from it if we fell."

"We'll take it slow, then. I need to keep my concentration up anyways," Aika replied. "Let's go."

Slowly, step-by-step, the trio began to make their way across the stone walkway, having to constantly shift their position in order to safely pass by the holes in it. Occasionally, somebody would step on a block that would slip away beneath their feet and fall down into the lava, where it promptly disintegrated on contact. The closer to the center of the walkway they got, the more common this was, until a whole portion of it crumbled away.

"We can't jump that while still holding hands. There's no way," Aika said.

"I don't think ice magic will exactly work in here, either," Vyse added.

But Cupil had other plans. He floated over to the other end of the walkway, laid down on it, and then began to stretch himself out until he formed a bridge across the small gap. Even Fina was surprised at this, but was happy nevertheless. Wasting no time, the trio carefully walked across him, but he held on strong. As soon as they reached the other side, he snapped back into his original size and cuddled against Fina tiredly.

"It's alright..." she soothed, stroking him with her free hand. "You've done more than enough for us. Thank you."

"Meepilmeep..." he replied, and instead chose to just float around her head, as seemed to be customary.

The three continued on until they reached the end of the walkway. Here, it turned into a long staircase that was carved into the stone wall, leading down behind the lavafall to the next level far, far below them. They quickly shimmied down it, but Aika was having trouble withholding the shield the closer they got to the lava. She began to tremble as she focused her hardest, but heat began to seep through the multicolored shell.

"Are you alright, Aika...?" Fina asked concernedly as they began to inch along the bottom level.

"Fine..." Aika panted, distractedly. Fina looked even more worried, but didn't say anything.

The passage was short, ending in another staircase that led down to another level. They were mere feet above the bubbling lava now, and Aika stooped over, panting heavily. A door at the edge of the catwalk, so near and yet so far off, beckoned to them.

"We have to hurry!" Vyse cried. "Aika, please hold on..."

"I'm...trying..." she said.

Vyse shook his head, then picked her up over his shoulders and balanced her on his back. Fina held on tight to her hand, and together they dashed across the pathway, leaving it to crumble behind them in their wake. Aika leaned against him heavily, wincing as she poured every last bit of her energy into holding up the shield. When they were at last close enough, Cupil dove for the door and opened it, and they skittered through, dropping to the floor in relief when they found themselves in a dark, completely enclosed hallway. Aika collapsed, panting.

"Aw...man..." she groaned.

"Oh, Aika...I-I'm so, so very sorry..." Fina looked both guilty and crestfallen, and she hovered over the girl anxiously. "I didn't mean to exhaust your energy, I had no idea this was here..."

"Of...course not." Aika panted, grinning weakly up at her. "Don't worry, I'm...I'm fine. I love a challenge."

"This passage leads back up. I think we're getting away from the lava now," Vyse said, studying their narrow surroundings.

Fina shook her head. "Cupil just felt the door on the other end. He says there's more lava, but not as much." She paused, gazing around at the architecture as well. "Everything from here on is not an actual part of the temple. This was all built by the Red Civilization to protect the moon crystal."

"Aika...are you up to this, or do you need rest?" Vyse asked. "By the sounds of it, we're getting close, but I don't want you to overdo it."

"I'm...definitely not as strong as Fina when it comes to this kinda thing..." Aika replied, smiling. "But I'll keep going on. I've...I've gotta push myself...I need to know how far I can go."

Vyse chuckled. "If Dad heard you, he'd say you've been hanging around me for too long." Grinning, he climbed to his feet, dusted himself off, and then offered his childhood friend his hand. She took it and climbed to her feet, a little shakily.

They strode up the passageway and into the next room, which was easily the largest yet. It was a forest of pillars and statues of gods, and was multi-tiered up to a canal of lava on the topmost level. On the other side of the room was a large, elaborately decorated door, but there was no apparent way to reach it.

"Uhm...okay...now what?" Aika asked, raising the shield again. She was a little pale, but it held strong.

"The passageway only leads up from here," Vyse replied. "Might as well follow up. Maybe it goes around to the other side.

"It appears we don't really have much of a choice." Fina nodded. "Let's go."

The walkway was a little narrow, but easy enough for them to follow while still maintaining contact with Aika. It led up to the canal and followed alongside it until abruptly jogging left into a separate side-room. Following it, they found themselves in a small chapel of sorts, where an altar against the far wall held a large tablet on it. Inscribed into it in pure diamond, ruby, and amber, was an odd rune.

"Whoa!" Vyse cried. "What's that?"

"One of Old World Nasr's greatest treasures, the Rune of Ill Omen." Fina smiled. "It was said to be a mighty oracle, but it has since lost its power."

Fingering the hilt of one of his cutlasses, Vyse turned and approached the altar. The Rune of Ill Omen beckoned to him, but he paused, looking around for any apparent traps.

"No...this is too easy. Way too easy..."

"What's wrong, Vyse? I don't see anything..." Aika said.

"It's gotta be trapped. I know it is," he replied, still looking for any possible triggers.

"Well, we can't just stand here forever," Aika said, impatient. "Take it or leave it."

Gritting his teeth, Vyse drew his cutlass, knocked the Rune off, and then rolled to the side. He had barely gotten out of the way when a huge slab of the roof fell down, completely obliterating the altar beneath it, right where he had stood. He picked it up and stuffed it in his bag, but the entire room began to tremble and grow hotter.

"The lava! It's rising!" Fina cried.

"What?!" Vyse's eyes went wide. "Aika, Fina, up here! Get on the slab and raise the shield!"

The girls ran over to him and he helped them up atop the slab, which was quite sizable. With a hand up from Aika, he joined them, and watched with wide eyes as the lava overflowed its canal and began to run down the tiers of the room, pooling up on the opposite end. Its heat disintegrated the wooden bases of many of the pillars in the room, and they toppled over, landing sideways in the lava with a dull splat. When at last the room was full and the level of the lava was almost up to the doors, however, the flow abruptly subsided and withdrew back into the canal, burbling quietly to itself.

"What...just happened?" Aika asked, completely bewildered.

"I...I don't know." Fina looked a little scared. "We're...surrounded..."

"No, we're not!" Vyse pointed out at the pillars. "Look! Look at the pattern in which they fell! I think we were supposed to follow that."

The two girls followed his gaze out to where the lava had pooled up. Indeed, the pillars had fallen so perfectly aligned that they formed a bridge path across the lava to the other door.

"Vyse, you go first, and don't let go of my hand, then," Aika said. "You follow after me, Fina. Let's move quick. If we're that close to the lava, I'm not sure I'll be able to shield us for long."

Vyse nodded, then braced himself and hop-stepped off the slab onto the nearest pillar, trailing the two girls behind them. Their weight caused it to roll and shift a bit, and they scrambled to balance it, managing with relative ease with the help of the viscous liquid. Carefully, yet quickly, they sidled along each pillar, with Aika growing more and more tense by the minute. Small hops would bring them to the next one, and then the next, until they had safely reached the other side and the elaborate door waiting for them there. Vyse heaved it open, and they ran through, more than happy to let the door slam closed behind them.

They found themselves in a considerably smaller room, with a large pool of lava separating them from the door on the other side. Next to it was a strange looking hole that looked like a lock of some sort. Oddly enough, the chamber was roughly hewn and not nearly as elaborate as the other rooms had been. It looked much more primitive.

"The guardian's chamber..." Fina whispered.

"Guardian?" Vyse asked.

Fina nodded. "Each moon crystal has a guardian beast, its last line of defense against those who seek it. The moon crystal is in the next chamber, so the creatyre guarding it must live in that pool of lava."

"How is that possible?" Aika asked, blinking. She leaned against the door, holding her arms out in order to keep the shield raised around them.

But Fina couldn't reply. The lava, which was as still as glass, began to swirl around and bubble rapidly to itself. A dark shape began to emerge from beneath it. Vyse ran forward, drawing his cutlasses, and Fina followed with Cupil in tow. Aika remained back against the door, clenching her teeth as she focused to keep the shield up while both were so far away from her.

First there emerged small spikes, followed by some tough tan skin that looked to have a rocklike texture to it. There came a square-shaped head, with large, beady red eyes, a jagged maw, and then the rest of the body, covered in spikes of varying sizes down the sides. The body was segmented, and the lava slowly dripped off it as water streamed off an emerging swimmer. It was easily ten feet tall from what Vyse could tell, but a good portion of it still remained beneath the lava's surface. Around its neck was a strange collar studded with red moonstones, and it flashed briefly when the creature had fully emerged. It snarled, turned an eye on them, and then roared in defiance.

"A Rockwyrm!" Fina cried.

"Fina! Look out!"

Vyse dove and knocked her aside as the rockwyrm snapped at her. Its teeth hit the floor and sent chips of stone flying, and Vyse swung his cutlass backwards and into the large beast's face. It growled and shrank back, only to strike again, and again he had to protect her, pushing her aside while fending the wyrm off with his free hand. But to his surprise, Fina wriggled free of his grasp, and stood boldly before the creature.

"Moons, give me strength!" she cried.

Her clothing rippled, and a torrent of wind and water burst forward, swirling around the Rockwyrm like a concentrated storm. The waters flayed the wyrm and began to blast away its skin, and it reared back, bellowing in pain. Eventually, though, Fina ran out of strength and fell back, hunkering down and trying to regain her energy. Vyse had to shield her again as the wyrm took that opportunity to strike, green ichor beginning to seep out of its exoskeleton.

With a skillful swing, Vyse cut deep into the creature's neck. He knew it was a fatal blow, since Fina had sanded its skin down to nothing, but while it still had the energy to fight, they were still in danger. He swung again and missed; one of the beast's teeth chipped off and went flying into the wall, where it bounced off harmlessly.

The Rockwyrm dunked under the lava momentarily, then came back up with the hot liquid oozing from its mouth. Lurching forward, it spat the searing magma out at Vyse, but once more Fina was in front of him, praying to the moons. An explosion of water intercepted most of the lava, but some of the larger pieces broke through and the greater majority hit her. She screamed and crumpled to the ground, and Cupil echoed her cry, writhing in pain. Ignoring his own burns, which were creeping down his arms and legs as the lava dripped off him, Vyse dropped to his knees and hurried to smother Fina's clothes out, doing his best to remove the scorching magma with his bare hands. She panted and clutched the green moonstone on her charm bracelet to her chest, murmuring spell incantations under her breath, but to Vyse's surprise _he_ was the one being surrounded in the healing light of green magic, not her.

"Fina! Worry about yourself!" he cried, desperately.

The wyrm lunged again, and, picking up his cutlasses in his burnt and bleeding hands, Vyse swung at it wildly. An eye was destroyed in a burst of green ichor, and it reared back, shrieking. Aika crouched down beside Fina and pressed one of the Sacrulen Crystals she had given Vyse against her, but Fina persisted in her healing spell, and Vyse could both see and feel his flesh molding back together. The wyrm, infuriated over Aika's interference, swallowed some lava and then exhaled a blast of hot ash at her. She tried to duck away, but the ash surrounded her body and petrified her where she stood.

The Delta Shield abruptly faded. Vyse was overwhelmed by the heat in the room, and struggled to breathe. Fina crawled over to Aika and dropped at her feet, panting, struggling as well in the hot air.

"K-kill it!" she blurted. "I'll break the spell on Aika!"

Unfortunately for the wyrm, the punishment it had been dealt was beginning to take its toll. It held itself limply in its heated haven, struggling to maintain consciousness. Vyse taunted it, drawing as close to the pool as he dared, but the heat seared through his boot soles and he could feel them beginning to grow soft and melt. Even in his hands, the bronze that composed his cutlass hilts was beginning to glow with the heat. It was unbearable.

Provoked enough, the Rockwyrm lunged, and at the same time, Vyse jumped towards it. He landed atop the creature's head, whereupon he brought down his cutlasses with all his might. They cut deep into its weakened skin and he pushed them down until they could go no farther. Only briefly did the body writhe before it fell limp and sagged against the ground, the head rolling loosely off to one side, almost completely severed off.

Panting, sweating, unable to breathe, Vyse staggered back, wincing at the pain as his melting boots began to cling to his feet. He eyed their fallen enemy, shakily wiping his blades off on his pants, and then Fina was suddenly there, gently removing his boots and carefully picking away the melted pieces from his feet, healing them with her own hands. He was so shocked to see her there that it took him a while to realize that Aika was beside him and had raised the shield again. She hugged him tightly around the neck.

"You're great, Vyse...not even pain stops you..." she said.

Vyse managed a small smile at the girls. "I swear I'll protect you two with my life. I'm not going back on that oath, not ever."

Fina smiled up at him bashfully. "You are brave and good...I-I am glad to have your aid, Vyse."

The three raggedly sat together in silence as Fina worked to heal Vyse. When she was finished, he stuffed his boots into his bag, saying he'd have to get them mended somewhere in Maramba, and then stood, sheathing his cutlasses.

"We can get across if we use the Rockwyrm as a bridge," he said, smiling. "Where's the pharaoh's key?"

Fina giggled. "You took it, silly. It's in your pocket."

"Oh! That's right." He grinned, sheepishly, then boldly stepped up onto the wyrm's body and strode across. Aika followed, and then Fina, more timidly. When they safely had reached the other side, Vyse pulled the key out of his pocket and inserted it into the hole. The door slid open as if it had been waiting for them.

The chambers on the other side took their breaths away. Made of solid gold, the walls were decorated in elaborate reliefs, depicting the Red Civilization in the height of its power. Hieroglyphics narrated the scene, forming borders around the walls, and the pictures were colored in with glass and semiprecious jewels. Four large glass pillars supported the roof, from which there dangled translucent red curtains. Gold coins littered the floor in patches so thick that they were sometimes knee-deep in it, and old but intricately decorated stone chests laid atop the piles, beckoning to them. Jewels, idols, and other relics of the past mingled with the treasure, but what stood apart from all the rest was an even more astounding sight.

Crowning a Spharnos statue, sitting atop a small pedestal, was a pyramid-shaped gem. It was no bigger than Vyse's own hands, but the glow it emitted was spectacular. The jewel was a translucent red, perfectly crystallized so that it looked like glass. Emitting from its center, however, was that glow, a glow almost blindingly bright, shining like a miniature sunrise. It illuminated the entire chamber with shifting rose-colored light, twinkling like a sun catcher prism.

"Oh...oh my..." Vyse breathed. "Is that it...?"

"Yes. That is the red moon crystal," Fina replied. She slowly advanced towards it, the pink glow reflecting in her depthless eyes. "Look at it: though thousands of years have passed since the destruction of the Old World, the crystal still shines as bright as ever."

"I get weak in the knees just looking at it..." Aika replied, in awe. "I've...I've never seen anything like this..."

"A moon crystal is pure power. It is the most concentrated source of energy you'll ever see," Fina replied. "This crystal alone has the power of thousands...no, tens of thousands of moonstones."

"Which is why it is needed to control something the size of the Gigas," Vyse concluded.

"Exactly." Slowly, Fina reached out, then took the crystal in to her hands. She shivered a bit upon making contact with it, then smiled, turning back to them and holding it out for them to see. "Look! Look at what we have accomplished! And it's all thanks to you!"

"No, Fina, it's thanks to you too!" Vyse grinned. "We were only able to accomplish this by working as a team!"

"There's no way we can let Valua get their hands on something like this!" Aika bounced happily. "This is awesome! Definitely the best treasure hunt of my life! C'mon, you two! Let's cram our sacks with as much as we can from this place and then get outta here!"

"Sounds good to me!" Vyse laughed and kicked open a chest, exhaling excitedly at the wonders he found within. He began stuffing all he could into his sack, and Aika followed suit with an adjacent box. Fina merely filled her bag with gold from the floor, unsure of what she was really supposed to be doing. Cupil simply ate it.

When they were full, they hefted their bags onto their backs and headed for a door in the corner of the room. Their burdens were unbelievably heavy, but all three were too excited to notice, and as Vyse opened the door, revealing a long passage that winded its way up, they dashed along its entire length until, many, many long minutes later, they reached its end. Vyse pushed it open, and it slid aside along with a statue of Spharnos. They emerged into the blinding sunlight and dry desert heat right back at the front door of the temple.

"Daylight!" Aika cried. "Look! We're the first people to _ever_ make it through this temple!"

"Hahahahaha!" Vyse laughed delightedly, then began to dash down the stairs. "Hadiya! Hadiiiiiyaaaaa!"

The three ran down the stairs and across the courtyard, back over to the enormous statue, where Hadiya was waiting for them. The dancer ran towards them excitedly, hugging the them all when they were close enough.

"You're all alive! I knew you could do it!" she cried.

"Hadiya, look!" Vyse dropped his sack at her feet. "This is all for you. I want you to have every last bit of it, for helping us."

"Oh!" Hadiya looked completely startled. "What...what is in here?"

"Loot from the temple," he replied, grinning proudly. "Now you don't have to live in poverty anymore!"

"Oh...oh my..." Hadiya lifted a hand to her mouth. She looked rather uncomfortable. "I...hope the moon crystal isn't in there."

"Nope. Fina's got it," Vyse replied, stooping a bit to catch his breath. "It's completely safe."

"Wonderful." Hadiya smiled. "Might I see it?"

"Of course," Fina replied, returning the smile. She reached into her bag, then produced the crystal, which shone brightly even in the intense rays of the sunlight. Hadiya gasped in sheer awe, reaching for it with trembling hands. When she had possession of it, she raised it to her face and peered into its glimmering depths, completely transfixed.

"Moons...I have never seen anything so amazingly beautiful in my life..." she breathed. "I cannot believe that this is actually one of the moon crystals of legend."

"Doesn't it make you want to tremble?" Aika asked, grinning. "Now _this_ is a treasure!"

"Oh, indeed!" Hadiya chuckled, cradling it to her chest. "Thank you, thank you so much! Lord Galcian will be very pleased."

Vyse sputtered at those words. "W-_what_?!"

"You don't understand? Well then, allow me to show you." Hadiya laughed, lifting a hand. A whole platoon of Valuan soldiers suddenly emerged from around them, where they had been hiding behind pillars and the statue itself.

Vyse gawked, utterly blown away. "Hadiya...who _are_ you?!"

The dancer smiled grimly, then reached up and pulled off her hair. It was a wig, and as she removed it, beautiful red hair tumbled down in its place. She rubbed at her eyebrows, and they became the same color, and she opened her robe slightly to reveal a series of Armada medallions hanging on the inside.

"Allow me to re-introduce myself. I am Belleza Diaz, fourth admiral of the Valuan Imperial Armada. I specialize in covert operations. You don't need to get your hands bloody to win a battle; sometimes a little trickery goes a long way."

Vyse could only stare, at a complete loss for words. Fina sniffed and clung to his arm.

"You! You...you...you lied...to us..." she whispered.

"No, I did not." Belleza looked away, frowning. "Everything I told you was true. My father did die in battle and I did have to live on the streets -- but I never said he was Nasrean. Years later, I too became a soldier, and I wanted to put a stop to war. I still do. Countries fight over borders and trade. If the world was united under one rule, there would be no more war." She paused and looked back over at them. "Everything I spoke was the truth, just not the full truth, even down to that flag I placed atop the statue. I raised it so we could be found, yes, but it was so my men could find me."

"How could you..." Vyse scowled. "Have you no heart?!"

"I wish I didn't, sometimes." Belleza looked sad. "I've grown fond of you three, I'll admit it. That is why I'm letting you go. Take my ship and get out of here. I'll do my best to make sure you're never captured, but I can't guarantee that Lord Galcian will not pursue you."

"What...?" Vyse was shocked.

Belleza smiled, sadly. "As I said...I respect the Blue Rogues, who they are and what they do. I cannot condemn you for following your beliefs and doing the right thing. I wish you were a little older, Vyse...you're quite the man." With that, she turned and walked towards the altar.

"Belleza! N-no! DON'T!" Fina cried.

Too late. Belleza placed the crystal into the hole on the pedestal; it was a perfect fit. The three could only watch in horror as an explosion of red light went up into the sky. The entire ground began to tremble violently, knocking them off of their feet.

"Quit standing around, you morons!" Belleza quipped in Valuan to the soldiers around her. "Return to the _Lynx_! That's an order!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" they replied, scattering. For the first time, Vyse noticed a pink ship off in the distance.

"Belleza! No! Pull the crystal out of there!" Fina persisted, running towards her. When she drew near, Belleza grabbed a hold of her and gazed into her eyes.

"Fina...don't force me to hurt you," she said. "Get out of here while you still can. You have no idea what you are up against. When Lord Galcian receives word of Recumen's re-awakening, he will arrive here to take control of the crystal. If you're still around, you'll get caught. Don't you realize? Once you've shown him where the crystals are, he'll simply kill you when he's done. Now _go_!"

"C'mon, Fina!" Vyse grabbed the Silvite by the arm and began to tug her over to Belleza's other ship. "We've got to retreat. We have no choice!"

It was all she could do to follow. The ground continued to tremble immensely as they climbed into the little Nasrean boat and started it up, and soon hunks of stone began to fall off the statue of Spharnos and crash into the sand around them. Vyse threw the old ship into full power and rocketed it off, trying to flee from the statue's decimation as fast as he could, but they were barely airborne when Aika screamed from out on deck.

"Vyse! The statue--!"

Vyse peered out the tent and looked back towards the temple. The statue had shed all of its stone, and had now climbed to its feet. It had transformed into a tawny feline with a red mane and eyes that burned like fire. Its skin glittered with golden circuit lines as it flexed and stretched in the sun, and then bellowed an immense roar that shook the very timbers of the ship.

"That wasn't a statue! It was the Gigas!"

"Oh moons..." Fina whispered.

Recumen shook out his mane and then looked down, presumably towards Belleza. He followed her in tiny steps, so as not to crush her, and then began to follow her ship as it glided off. She was heading north, towards Nasrad, Vyse realized.

"We've gotta stop her. We can't let her destroy the capitol!" he said, running back into the tent and sharply turning the ship around. "We'll need to board her ship and talk with her!"

A sudden explosion and a bellow of defiance caught their attention, however, and Vyse ran back out on deck in time to see Recumen bat irritably at something in the air. A bronze glare was all he could see for a long time in the sunlight, but then a familiar dark shape emerged from the sand cloud the Gigas had kicked up, rocketing towards them at high speed. Vyse couldn't believe his eyes.

"Captain! It's the Captain!"

"He came back!" Aika was positively beaming.

Vyse brought the ship to a halt so the _Little Jack_ could pull up alongside them. Once it had, they hopped aboard and it pulled away just as swiftly, turning to avoid a blast of fire that Recumen sent their way. It completely obliterated Belleza's little ship, and the three scrambled onto the bridge as the ashes fell towards the ground.

Drachma was at the helm when they had reached the bridge again. Aika raced over and threw her arms around him in a tight hug, laughing.

"Cap'n! You came back just in time!"

"I can't leave you three alone, can I?" he grunted, whirling around on them. "Yer lucky my search for Rhaknam led me here, otherwise you'd be roasted by that...that thing."

Aika only laughed again. "Hey Fina, get a load of the Cap'n. I wonder how long he'll continue acting like he doesn't care about us."

Fina giggled. "You really shouldn't tease him like that..."

"Who's actin'?" Drachma demanded, kicking the console. "I just wanna capture Rhaknam! Rotten little brats, always gettin' me into trouble..."

"Calm down, calm down, Captain." Vyse smiled at the old man. "We're really grateful that you saved us."

"Aye. I saw the Lady Admiral's ship when I was sailin' outta here and knew she had followed us. She likely was waitin' in Nasrad." Drachma looked out the window, frowning. "But now she's goin' over there to get their allegiance, I'm sure. We'll have to get ridda that thing."

"Can we take it out in the _Little Jack_?" Vyse asked.

Drachma's mustache quirked; he almost appeared to be smirking as he tapped a new lever on his console. "We got ourselves a new weapon now, boy. That thing's as big as Rhaknam...Let's treat it as a practice run."

Vyse grinned, then took the wheel. "Let's test the Harpoon Cannon out, then!"

"Girl! Man yer stations! Fina! Take the right hand panel. I got me some torpedoes while I was in Valua...yer in charge o'those. I got the main cannons."

"Aye aye!"

"Yes sir."

Vyse turned the ship hard and brought it towards Recumen. It eyed them with a blank gaze.

"Boy, don't get hit by that thing, no matter what. You hear me?" Drachma ordered. "I don't think the _Little Jack_ can take a direct hit, 'specially with that fire breath o'is. Aika, see the new levers that 'ave been added? The ones on top control the secondary cannons t'port and the ones on the bottom now control the secondaries t'starbord. Fina, on yer console, the left lever fires out of tube one and the right lever fires outta tube two. They both shoot outta the stern of the ship. Pull 'em down t'fire an' up t'reload."

"Yes, sir," Fina replied.

Recumen roared defiance as they approached him at full speed. He opened his mouth and began to suck in a huge amount of air, which immediately began to draw the _Little Jack_ along with it, but Vyse turned the ship to the side and both Drachma and Aika fired at him. He ended up swallowing several cannonballs, and that made him none too happy. As he attempted to hack them up, Vyse got behind his head.

"Yer too close to fire the Harpoon Cannon," Drachma chided. "Fina, tube one! Aika, fire the secondaries!"

"Aye aye!"

"Yes sir."

The _Little Jack_ jumped back under the recoil of so much firepower, and Vyse struggled to keep it from spinning out of control in the wake of its own gunpowder dust. Every shot found its mark, but only seemed to sink into the Gigas' mane; he didn't even flinch. Whirling around, he snapped at them with his enormous maw, and Vyse barely managed to get it out of the way in time. A paw swipe, followed by another, and the _Little Jack _was spinning off towards the ground even though it hadn't taken a direct hit. Vyse pulled hard on the pectoral crank and wrestled with the sails to bring it back up, away from certain doom.

"What're ya doin'?!" Drachma roared. "Increase altitude! We're sittin' ducks in this position!"

"I'm trying, Captain!" Vyse replied, desperately increasing his altitude.

"Hmph. Now's our chance. Sail towards him directly and fire the Harpoon Cannon into 'is face."

Vyse angled the ship down and then returned it to its top speed. Recumen snarled and turned to face them, preparing to suck in another deep breath, but Vyse grabbed the new lever on the _Little Jack's_ console and yanked it down.

"Harpoon Cannon...fire!"

A loud grinding noise, like an enormous drill, suddenly resonated from deep in the _Little Jack's_ hull. The head of the harpoon cannon began to rapidly spin from its mount on the _Little Jack's_ bow, becoming a bronze dervish that glowed like fire in the sunlight. Abruptly, in a cloud of steam, it burst from its confines, sending the ship bucking backwards. It sailed forward, straight and true, trailing a chain after it, and struck Recumen between the eyes. To their extreme disappointment, however, it merely wedged in there and stopped. Recumen grunted to himself and batted it loose.

"_What_?!" Aika cried. "This thing is supposed to be able to destroy small islands!"

"And Gigas are supposed to be able to destroy large ones," Fina replied, quietly.

Aika fell silent.

"Retract the Harpoon an' pull back," Drachma ordered. "I get the feelin' that 'e's only playin' with us. We're just prolonging our own deaths. We need a new plan."

"Fina...isn't there anything we can _do_ against it?" Vyse asked desperately as he readjusted the lever and began to retract the Harpoon. "Doesn't it have a weakness or something?"

Fina bowed her head. "Gigas are mostly single-minded. They don't make their own decisions, they only obey the commands given to them by their masters, who are the people who have possession of their moon crystal. Until Belleza commands it to stop...there's nothing we _can_ do..."

"Vyse...are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Aika suddenly asked.

Vyse smirked, adjusting the course of the ship and aiming it towards the _Lynx_. "You bet I am."

He had never seen a ship like the _Lynx_ before, but it was clearly very advanced. Belleza was firing upon them before she was even within range of their own cannons, and thus Vyse could not dodge in time. The _Little Jack _trembled and splinters of wood went flying everywhere as nearly every cannonball hit its mark. Vyse was completely taken-aback.

"Damage report!" Drachma roared.

"Breach to port! Hit the storage room and the cannonball chamber. Breach to starboard! Dammit, she hit the galley again!"

"Hmph. The Lady Admiral's good."

Vyse watched her closely and was able to dodge the next volley of cannon fire, weaving the _Little Jack_ out of the way. In doing so, he brought the ship up right alongside hers and they sailed in unison until he ducked beneath her before she could fire. As he emerged from beneath the _Lynx_, he was right in the path of the torpedoes she had previously launched, and they hit the deck in a fiery blossom, setting it alight.

"Crap!" he cried.

"I'll go put it out!" Fina abandoned her post and rushed down the stairs.

"How is she doing that?" Aika cried. "It's like she can read our every move!"

"Admiral Diaz is the greatest tactician in Valua's ranks," Drachma replied. "She may be young, but she can plan out anythin'. She knows every move in the books."

"Then we'll have to pull something completely unexpected!" Vyse replied, spinning the wheel hard to starboard. Down below, he caught a glimpse of Fina and felt guilty as he realized he knocked her off her feet. Cupil helped her up, however, and she was able to conjure up a water spell to put the fires on board out.

"Good move, boy!" Drachma said. "We're almost behind her. Aika, fire!"

"Aye aye!"

The two fired simultaneously, and the cannons jolted back with the echoing clap of thunder as they fired. Both hit their marks, but only Drachma's breached the ship's hull.

"Hmph. Heavily fortified. Guess I'll need to upgrade these damn things." Drachma frowned. "Lass, get over here. The secondaries're no good. I want you to help me fire the main cannons."

Aika nodded and joined him by the pulleys just as Fina returned to the bridge, panting.

"She's turning on us!" Drachma warned. "Don't lose yer vantage point!"

"I can't go any faster! The engine will overheat!" Vyse replied.

"Oh!" Fina disappeared below deck again.

"Vyse! MOVE!" Aika shouted.

Too late.

Mounted atop the _Lynx_ were two sets of turret-style cannons that Vyse had been unable to identify. Now they had trained themselves on the _Little Jack_, and they crackled with azure sparks. As they fired in a cloud of blue moonstone powder, making barely a sound, Vyse watched with wide eyes as huge cannonballs, trailing water behind them and glowing an electric indigo, came careening for their little ship. When they hit, they exploded in a burst of wind and water, similar to the spell Fina had used against the Rockwyrm. Two of the main cannons exploded on contact, which in turn blew off the entire port side of the ship. The shockwave was so violent that even Drachma was knocked off his feet, and all of the windows on the bridge shattered.

As Vyse lay on the ground, stunned, trying to figure out what had just happened, his thoughts abruptly flashed to Fina, who had gone below deck. A cold dread washed over him -- was she alright?

"A magic cannon..." Drachma murmured. "Had no idea that that was what those were..." Apparently, he had been unable to identify the turrets as well.

Vyse climbed to his feet, teeth clenched. He had lost sight of Belleza, and knew she must have been behind him. With a furious cry, he ran to the console and hit the brakes, jamming the pectoral fins still. The _Little Jack_ lurched downwards as it drug itself to an abrupt stop.

Belleza hadn't been expecting that, and the _Lynx_ went shooting past them. As she attempted to correct her error, Vyse aligned the _Little Jack_ with it and threw the Harpoon Cannon's switch. Though the _Little Jack_ listed dangerously to starboard as the cannon fired, the shot was still clean and powerful nevertheless. The _Lynx_ had just turned around when the Harpoon Cannon struck it, completely penetrating its hull. The ship was torn in half and went flying in separate directions, spinning madly in its rapid descent back towards the sands below. Scraps of metal, shrapnel, bolts and screws accompanied its descent as metallic rain, and moonstone dust of varying colors clouded in the air like an ethereal mist.

Drachma and Aika fell into a stunned silence as Vyse retracted the Harpoon Cannon. It was dragging the _Little Jack_ down, but Vyse carefully dropped altitude anyway to bring it to as gentle a landing as he could. Both ends of Belleza's ship hadn't fallen far, and while the impact was heavy, Vyse was sure that nobody was seriously injured. He turned to Aika and pointed to the roof of the cabin.

"Get up there and signal Belleza's ship. Tell her we'll attack if she doesn't call off the Gigas."

Aika nodded and went downstairs.

A few minutes passed in silence as Vyse made the _Little Jack_ hover above the wreckage of the _Lynx_. Drachma came up behind him and put his good hand on his shoulder, catching him off guard.

"Tryin' t'give an old man a heart attack?" he asked, quirking his mustache again. "You done good, boy, to outwit the craftiest Admiral in the Armada."

"Captain...I'm sorry about the ship..." Vyse replied. "You came back here to save us and I almost totaled it."

"Meh." Drachma shook his head, gazing stonily out at the battle scene. "I think it's time I completely retrofit the _Little Jack_ anyway. I need new armor, an' stronger cannons, an' a more powerful engine. If we're gonna last against Armada vessels, we'll need better everything."

Vyse blinked. "You mean...?"

"Aye. I ain't gonna leave ya no more, boy. I've been an ass up to this point." Drachma shook his head, turning away. "Heh. I'm surprised Aika didn't sock me first chance she got. Moons know I deserved it."

A sudden blossom of gold caught their attention. Vyse peered out one of the porthole windows to see Recumen burrowing into the sand. The extreme urgency with which the Gigas dug its own hole was rather surprising, and when at last it was sufficiently buried, with only its head-poking out from the ocean of grains, it once again turned to stone. Aika returned to the cabin then, with a bleeding Fina in tow. The Silvite was holding a rag to her head.

"Fina!" Vyse ran over to her, gathering her into his arms. "Oh, moons! I've hurt you!"

"I-I'm alright..." she replied, a little dazed, but otherwise okay. "I got hit with some debris when the ship got damaged, but Cupil shielded me from most of it." The little apis, now almost completely black with dust and gunpowder, chirruped happily.

"...Captain, could you land the ship for us?" Vyse asked, hesitantly. "Let me get my pack and heal Fina. Then we can negotiate with Belleza."

"Sounds like a good idea t'me," Drachma grunted. "Lass, stay here. I'll need some help landin' the blasted wreck in this condition."

Aika hesitated, then complied and joined Drachma at the console, glancing back at Vyse as he assisted Fina down the stairs.

"It really isn't your fault..." Fina insisted once she and Vyse were down in her and Aika's room, which had previously been another storage vault on board the _Little Jack_. Vyse gently dabbed away the blood streaming from her forehead, holding another healing crystal nearby it.

"Yeah it is. I was up there fighting like a complete idiot," he replied, ashamedly. "The entire left side of the ship is gone. I could have lost you too, Fina..."

It was that very incident that made Vyse realize that perhaps he felt more than he thought for the quiet, mysterious Silvite girl. True, he had been attracted to Belleza, but it had been only her looks that had initially drawn him. With Fina, it went far beyond her physical appearance; he enjoyed her very presence, her personality and demeanor.

Brooding, the rogue wrestled with his feelings and decided to shove them away for another time.

"Vyse...please don't get upset..." Fina pleaded, gazing into his eyes. "R-remember..._I'm_ the one who dragged you out on this quest. I just risked the lives of three innocent people against a Gigas!"

Vyse shook his head. "No...I attacked Recumen head on. I should have known better. And even then, he didn't do any damage to the ship -- it was Belleza!" He bowed his head. "I'm just not experienced enough to fight a Valuan Admiral. If it weren't for the Harpoon Cannon, she would have shot us down."

"Vyse, I...I believe you could have beaten her," Fina replied, quietly. "You told me yourself: you said...nothing is impossible."

Vyse smiled. "You're right. You're right, Fina. Heh...I can't give up on myself. And there's no reason I should be beating myself up over a near loss. We all learn from our mistakes, right? This won't happen again -- that's a promise to myself _and_ the rest of this little crew!"

Fina giggled softly. "That's the spirit, Vyse. My people would be proud of you." She paused, and reached up, gently removing his hand. The wound had healed, but there was now a small scar marring her forehead.

Vyse frowned, lightly tracing the scar over with one finger. "Fina...that ill-suits you..."

But she only smiled at him. Reaching out, she touched his own scar. "No, we match now. Does this make me an air pirate, too?"

Vyse laughed. "Fina, you've been a Blue Rogue since you asked me and Aika and Drachma to sail with you."

"Hey, you two!" Aika called down from above. "We've landed, in case you haven't noticed. We need to go negotiate with Belleza!"

"Coming!" Vyse called back up.


	12. Out of the Sandbox

Negotiations had gone all in Vyse's favor and none in Belleza's, but the Admiral both accepted her defeat and regretted her betraying of the four, and wanted to help however she could. She was not willing to risk the lives of her crew, and so, upon Drachma's grumpy demands, the engine of the _Lynx_ was transferred over into the _Little Jack_, the ship's plating used to reinforce the hull, and the ship's cannons used to replace what Drachma already had. Fina had, by that time, already regained possession of the moon crystal, and fed it to Cupil simply so she wouldn't have to worry about anybody stealing it. The apis glowed pink for a week while they oversaw the retrofitting of the _Little Jack_, but none of the Valuan soldiers dared touch him.

The _Little Jack_ looked odd at its in-between stage, half green and half pink, which really bothered Drachma. When it was completed, he mumbled about getting it painted once they returned to Maramba, and that he abhorred pink, and that even Rhaknam would flee from such a hideous color.

When they were ready to depart, however, Belleza approached Vyse. She looked completely different than she had as Hadiya, or even when she had revealed her true identity a week before. She was disheveled, and weary, and almost as red as Fina with sunburn. But she smiled at him nevertheless, and pressed something into his hand.

"What's this?" he asked, blinking at her.

"My captain's stripe," she replied, gazing at him fondly. "I want you to have it, for such a bold victory."

"You're...serious?" Vyse was totally blown away.

Belleza chuckled. "You deserve it, handsome. You've endured a lot up to this point, but you've prevailed." She tapped a finger lightly on his chest. "I lost to you because I not only underestimated your experience...but because you never give up. Again, I regret that you aren't a few years older."

Vyse blushed. "You can't say that. We're enemies..."

Belleza smiled. "Only by definition. But in my heart, I see you three as my friends. I will not forget the time we spent together, however brief. I've learned a lot from you, Vyse. You may be rash and impulsive, but...I hope you survive long enough for us to meet again."

"Belleza!" he called, as she began to walk off.

"What is it?" she asked.

"My offer still stands, you know," he replied. "You can still join us. Do you really want to be fighting like this? Fighting a war to end a war?"

Belleza smiled again, but this time it was sad. "I know it's a paradox, Vyse...but I cannot join you. I have to fight for those few that I love who are still in my life. This is the path I have chosen, and I can't turn back. If I turned my back on Valua now, and became an air pirate...I would lose all hope of living with the man I truly love. You know that feeling, don't you?"

Vyse blushed.

"Haha...hit that one on the head, didn't I?" Belleza leaned forward, and pressed her lips to his forehead. "Don't die, Vyse. That's an order." And with that, she turned and disappeared into the wreckage of the _Lynx_.

Stunned, Vyse traipsed back over the sands to the _Little Jack_, and hefted himself on board. Once he had returned to the bridge, Drachma started up the engines and then they were airborne, aloft faster than they ever had been thanks to the power of the _Lynx_'s engine. As the whaling vessel turned it's back on the Armada Flagship and the Temple of Pyrynn, as well as the buried form of Recumen, Vyse peered out the window, hoping to catch one last glimpse of Belleza, but she was nowhere to be found. She really did care about them, he realized. It was confusing.

That night, as the _Little Jack_ sat in the Maramba port and they rested on board while waiting for the inn to clear out, Vyse sat out on deck and stared down at Belleza's captain's stripe, sitting in the palm of his hand.

_I'm not deserving of this sorta thing..._ he thought, frowning. _She practically gave me her Admiral's Medal. Why would she do that?_

"You're late for dinner."

He turned around. Aika and Fina were there holding trays with food and drinks on them. The two girls pulled up barrels and took a seat beside him, passing out the contents.

"Where's the Captain?" he asked, gratefully taking a drink from Fina.

"We already fed him." Aika giggled. "He went off to go yell at the ship builders in the Sailors' Guild for not finishing their painting job all in one day."

"Figures." Vyse chuckled, shaking his head, then forked up some of the meal Aika served him. "You guys didn't have to bring all this out here. I would have come in if you yelled at me long enough."

Aika rolled her eyes with a smirk. "No you wouldn't have. You're in a broody mood, just like your dad, I can tell. Besides, it's time we plan our next move, don'tcha think?"

"You're right." Vyse grinned, pausing for another bite of his meal. "Well, naturally, I'd say we restock tomorrow and then get outta here. But where we go next...that's up to Fina."

Fina paused in taking a sip of some tea she had brought out for herself. Cupil appeared from out of nowhere above her head and then settled into her lap, and she stroked his domelike head gently as she mused to herself. "Well, from here...the closest lands are Valua and Ixa'taka. But I still don't think we should go back to Valua yet."

"Ixa-whata?" Aika asked, blinking. "What are you talking about?"

Fina smiled and stood, setting her glass down before heading over to one of the masts on the deck. She gazed up at it, running her fingers along its length, then turned to look back at the two of them. "Across South Ocean, nestled in the warmth of the west, lies a continent that basks in the gentle light of the Green Moon. The lands there are blessed with fertility, and plants of all shapes and sizes cover nearly every inch of every island. Life there is very simple...the technology is primitive and people live in close-knit tribes, but they prosper. They have only recently rediscovered the art of shipbuilding."

Vyse sputtered out his drink in the middle of sipping it. "What?! You mean there's actually a continent there?"

"A whole civilization," Fina corrected, gently. "The land is called Ixa'taka."

"I had no idea..." Aika's dark eyes were wide. "But...nobody's ever crossed South Ocean before..."

"We certainly couldn't have done it with the old _Little Jack_..." Vyse replied, thoughtfully. "But we've got Belleza's engine now. If we can't get through South Ocean, nobody else will be able to, either."

"You're right. Might as well give it a try, then." Aika grinned. "We're at a good starting point. South Ocean is a few day's sail from here. But...how long will it take to cross it?" She looked over to Fina, quizzically.

Fina returned to the barrel she had been sitting on. "Well...uhm...judging by the speed of your ships...and the distances my people have measured across the world...it would normally take five weeks." She paused, and bowed her head. "But, uhm...we'll be sailing against the winds I think, so...six weeks."

Aika choked. "We don't have enough fuel to sail six weeks, non-stop. I don't think we can _carry_ that much! And what about food? How can we pack a six weeks' supply of food without having most of it go bad?"

"In my homeland, we have a technique of preserving food using the powers of ice," Fina replied. "I'll freeze the storage room over to keep it cool. That way, our food will never spoil. There are also fish that live in South Ocean, so we'll have a constant meat supply. The only thing we'll need to worry about is water. If we run out of fuel, you can just use my silver moonstone charm. I don't mind if it runs out of power, I just won't be able to use silver magic anymore."

"Fina, it takes fifteen silver moonstones to power a lifeboat..." Vyse replied. "I'm sorry, but...that just won't work."

"You're wrong." Fina smiled, a bit mysteriously. "A single middle-sized silver moonstone can power a ship roughly the same as this one for two and a half years. Your people just haven't learned how to properly process them for fuel usage yet. Or, if you'd rather, we could use the moon crystal..."

"Should we do that?" Aika arched a brow.

"Probably not," Fina admitted, "but it's there in case of emergency."

Vyse nodded, taking a moment to think. "Alright, how about this? After we finish dinner here, we take some of our treasure over to the Sailor's Guild and sell it. Using that money, we'll stock up on as much fuel as we can, and then use the rest to buy food, water, and healing supplies. We'll all need new clothing...my boots have gone to hell, my tunic's burnt, Fina's dress is full of holes, the leather on Aika's has cracked in the heat...I wouldn't mind a bath after all that, either."

"Oh!" Fina's eyes went wide. "No, I...I don't want to get rid of my dress. Please? It's all I have as a reminder of my home world right now, aside from Cupil. I-I'll mend it myself, I promise, just...please...please don't make me get rid of it..."

"Of course not. Your dress is all fabric...it will be easy to mend. But my tunic and Aika's dress are made of leather...that's _not_ so easy to mend." Vyse smiled. "We'll just get some sewing supplies so you can fix your dress back up, alright? In the meantime, I'm sure Aika has some spare clothing you could wear."

"Hmm..." Aika eyed the Silvite thoughtfully. "I dunno. My stuff would be pretty big on her. I'll see what I got. C'mon, Fina! Let's go play dress-up!"

"Dress...up...?" the Silvite replied, following Aika back into the cabin in confusion. Vyse chuckled.

* * *

"Hmm...South Ocean, eh?" Drachma chewed on the end of a small paintbrush as he paused in his touching up of the letters spelling out 'LITTLE JACK' on the _Little Jack's_ side. He turned to look down at them, eying them scrutinizingly. "Y'do know that ain't nobody's been through there b'fore, right?"

"Of course," Vyse replied. "They said that about the Grand Fortress too, you know. We should at least give it a try, now that we have Belleza's engine."

"Hah!" Drachma rumbled to himself, turning back to his work. "Y'don't frighten easily, do ya boy? Y'know about that strong headwind that blows in from South Ocean, I hope. We'll have to furl up the sails or we'll be sailin' into irons and we won't get nowhere. We'll have to power our way across the whole damn thing."

"I know. We already took care of fuel and food and everything. Once you're done painting the _Little Jack_, we'll be ready to head out," Vyse replied.

Drachma shook his head, chuckling a tiny bit. "Sometimes I think ya got way too much enthusiasm for this sorta thing, boy. You sure we got enough supplies to last us the whole trip? Sailin' into that headwind is really gonna eat at our fuel."

"We bought as much as we could without blowing all the treasure we got in the Temple," Vyse replied. "I think we should have enough."

"Hmph. I sure hope so. Bah! Why do sky rifts have to exist?" Drachma scowled as he slopped some more paint onto the _Little Jack_'s side. "Sailin'd be a lot more easier if we could just cut across the sky instead of havin' to sail around 'em."

"Now where's the challenge in that, Captain?" Vyse asked grinning.

"Heh." Drachma finally drew back, sealing the lid to his paint can and tossing the brush down to the dock. He swung around and dropped down beside him, then yanked the scaffolding he had been sitting upon down and kicked it aside. "Let's get movin', then. All this equipment belongs to the Guild...I'll let _them_ take care o'it. Might as well kiss the ground, kids! It'll be a long time b'fore we ever walk on it again." With that, he climbed aboard the ship and disappeared into the cabin.

"I really don't get him sometimes." Aika grinned, hands on her hips. "But we'd be nowhere without him nevertheless. C'mon, guys! Let's get outta this sandbox!"


	13. To the Stormy South

As the sky gradually began to grow darker and more clouded, Vyse began to feel like he was back in Valua again. Far behind the _Little Jack_ now was Nasr, and only the pale form of the Red Moon was visible anymore. Off in the north, he could just barely catch a glimpse of the Silver Moon, and it made a part of him yearn for home. The winds had grown strong now, and they whistled through the rafters of the cabin and the deck, endlessly howling throughout the night and throughout the day. It made sleeping difficult.

The fourth day was when they saw their first cyclone. It was enormous beyond comprehension, an angry funnel of swirling white and gray cloud matter that stretched from the upper cloud layer to the lower one. It remained stationary, but they swung wide to avoid it, for its sheer height and breadth threatened to pull the _Little Jack_ in and splinter it into nothingness. Fina explained that there was a third cloud layer beneath the lower one, and it was known as Deep Sky. Deep Sky was little more than a giant hurricane that had been raging on for the past seven hundred years, or so her people had estimated. She said that in some places, the storm became so violent that it needed to vent itself upwards, which resulted in sky rifts and the enormous cyclones of South Ocean. Vyse could believe it.

By the end of the first week, it had become so cloudy that their sight was extremely limited. Nobody dared to go out on deck because the winds were so powerful, and a sudden gust would throw the _Little Jack_ backwards several yards. They crept along at a snail's pace, the wind reducing the _Little Jack's_ top speed by a considerable amount, even with Belleza's engine working full blast. The ship shuddered and trembled beneath the force of the wind, and Drachma even lowered the flag because it was being ripped to shreds upon the main mast. Fina mended it as well as the sails as they sailed along, glad to have something to do.

By the end of the second week, they couldn't afford to anchor the ship anymore. Stopping and attempting to hover would only result in the _Little Jack_ being blown backwards and them losing over an entire day's progress of sailing. They began to take turns at the helm, so that the whaling vessel was sailing non-stop, even at night. Vyse and Drachma would sail during the day in order to get the heavy work done while Aika and Fina slept, and the girls would alternate at night while _they_ slept. Fina was not very good at the helm, but she doggedly tried her best to sail the _Little Jack_ onwards and keep it out of the cyclones that were becoming more and more frequent around them.

By the third week, there were cyclones everywhere. By the fourth, they got almost too thick to handle.

That day, Vyse sat in his hammock, pulling on his new pair of boots as he prepared to take over for Drachma at the helm. The relative quietness of Belleza's engine made it much easier to sleep below deck, though he still wouldn't have minded having a real room as Aika and Fina did. At that thought, he rose to his feet and strode over to the room that the two girls shared, carefully and quietly peeking inside. Fina was curled up in one corner, wrapped up tight in her blankets with Cupil cuddled to her, and Aika was jammed into the other, murmuring in her sleep. For a moment, he considered going in there and tucking another blanket around them, but decided against it. If Aika woke up, he'd never hear the end of it.

Stretching and quietly closing the door behind him, Vyse grabbed a hunk of cold bread from the frozen-over storage room and gnawed on it hungrily as he climbed up the stairs onto the bridge. Drachma was at the helm, wrestling a bit with the wheel, but all was quiet otherwise and he was prepared to fall into the lonely routine of the day. He really missed being able to spend time with everyone during the day as he had before reaching this point in South Ocean, but right now he knew the biggest concern was to get everyone to safety. He would even put that on himself if it came down to it.

"Boy. Did Aika report anythin' unusual to you last night?" Drachma asked without turning, as he sensed the rogue's presence.

"Huh?" Vyse blinked, coming up behind him. "No, she went to bed before I even woke up."

"So she didn't break nothin'?"

"Not that I know of...Why, is something broken?"

"Mmm." Drachma pointed with his good hand to the compass.

Confused, Vyse strode over to where Drachma was pointing and peered down at the compass. The needle was spinning wildly in a counter clockwise direction.

"What the?!"

"It's been doin' that for the past hour," Drachma said. "Somethin' around here's screwin' with it, but I ain't gotta clue what."

"Is anything else malfunctioning?" Vyse asked.

"Nope. Just the compass. I been tryin' my best not t'get us turned around, but I might've done it anyway." Drachma shook his head. "I can't see either o'the moons no more. I'm havin' t'sail by the sun."

"I'll keep that in mind, then," Vyse replied, reaching for the wheel. "Here, I'm ready to take over now. You go get yourself some rest, Captain."

"No."

"Captain?"

"Somethin' ain't right here, boy. I don't like this one bit." Drachma frowned deeply, staring out the window. "We're gonna run into somethin' nasty here soon, I can jus' feel it. Go wake the girls. We're gonna need all hands on deck."

Vyse was startled. "You're serious?"

"Do I look like the joking type to you? Get movin'!"

Vyse skittered back down the stairs and into the ship's hull.

When he was once again standing in the doorway to the girls' room, Vyse felt guilty for having to wake them, and hesitated. Slowly, carefully, he picked his way over their belongings to Fina and crouched beside her. Tentatively, he reached for her and gently shook her, and she stirred and rolled over against him.

"Fina..." he whispered, "Fina, wake up."

"Mmm...mm?" The Silvite slowly opened her eyes, blinking several times to clear them. When her gaze met with his, they both stared at each other for a time. "...Vyse? Wh-what's wrong?"

"I don't know," he whispered in response, shaking his head. "But Drachma wants us all up on the bridge. He says we're going to sail into something bad and he doesn't know what."

"Oh...!" Fina clutched at her blankets slightly, looking a little afraid. "I...I think I might know what it is. I didn't think we'd run into it, though, because South Ocean is so big..."

"Hey, don't worry. You're bound to run into the unexpected when you're out sailing." Vyse reached out to squeeze her arm. "Get up there, and I'll wake Aika, too. Don't worry, things will be okay."

"I...I trust you, Vyse..." Fina replied, peering up at him with wide eyes. She didn't move, however, until the ship pitched and he shook himself back into reality.

"Here. Hurry up. Tell the Captain that Aika's coming, she just won't wake up as easily." Vyse pulled her up, and she nodded before skittering off on her bare feet.

Vyse then turned to Aika, who was still murmuring in her sleep, and placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her firmly. He didn't even bother being quiet with her, because he knew she slept deeply.

"Aika...Aika!"

"Mmm...no, I'm not giving it back," she replied, turning away from him.

Vyse rolled his eyes. "Aika, get up!"

"Hmnh? Whazzat?" Aika rolled over, rubbing at her eyes, then blinked when she noticed him hovering there above her. "Vyse...?"

"The Captain needs us on the bridge," Vyse said. "Fina's already up there."

"Mnhfgh..." Aika rubbed at her eyes again. "What for? Can't you just wake me when it's over?"

Vyse sighed, put his arms around her, and drug her out of her bed. "C'mon, Aika, this is important. We're sailing into danger."

"We do that all the time..." she murmured, cuddling against him.

"Aika!"

"Alright...alright...I'm coming..." She sighed, but didn't move. "Five more minutes? Ow! Okay, I'm sorry, I'm coming..."

Reluctantly, she pushed away from him, climbed to her feet, and stumbled off. Vyse sighed and followed.

It was a bit embarrassing to see both the girls in their sleeping garb. While Fina was fully covered in a long and flowing white night gown that had been given to her in Valua, Aika wore a pair of men's shorts and a very tiny top that exposed most of her midriff. Vyse himself slept in less, but it was still a little uncomfortable. When he was back on the bridge, he found both girls glued to the window, but Drachma himself hadn't budged.

"I don't believe this...I've never seen a compass do this before," Aika was saying, as he came up the stairs.

"So, Fina...any idea what it is?" Drachma asked, gruffly.

"I...I believe it is what your people and my people alike call the Tricyclone..." Fina replied, clutching her hands over her chest. "It is the largest natural phenomenon on the planet, a giant whirlwind composed of three large tornadoes. It either sucks objects in, or splinters them to pieces."

Aika turned to look at her, eyes wide. "You can't be serious. They say the treasure of a thousand air pirates is stuck in there. Nobody's ever survived an encounter with that thing! It travels around, and has gone close enough to Nasr to endanger ships there."

"Yes...it was because of that fact that I had hoped we wouldn't run into it..." Fina frowned, anxiously.

"It's alright, Fina. Not like we have much of a choice when it comes to traveling to Ixa'taka." Vyse came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, staring out the window with a frown of his own. "I don't see anything, though..."

"Nay, y'can't see it, but you can feel it." Drachma's own frown deepened. "It's gettin' harder an' harder t'steer this damned thing. The wind's tryin' t'pull me t'port. I'm tryin' to stay t'starboard, but we're driftin'."

"What the...? What's flying out at us?" Vyse jumped and ducked back on impulse as something hit the window, cracking it significantly. He could hear similar things happening below, as something pelted the ship in small waves. Accompanying the harder objects were leaves, broader and greener beyond belief, which clung to the windows and hindered their vision.

"Gold coins!" Aika cried. "We're being hit with stray gold coins!"

"And these leaves must have come from Ixa'taka," Fina added, quietly. "We're very close to it now..."

Drachma frowned. He looked grim. "It's a good thing we're weighed down by all that treasure you brought on board...I don't doubt that that helps. But...mmm...this ain't lookin' good at all..." He paused, looking at the console. "Alright. Here's the plan. The more streamline we are, the harder it'll be for that thing to pull us in. Vyse, take those levers over there and fold the wings down. Completely. Aika, crank the pectoral fins until they're held against the sides o'the _Little Jack_ and lock 'em there. Fina, raise the altitude of the ship. The higher we are, the safer we'll be. If you can get us as high as possible, so much the better. I'll try to keep us away from that damn thing. Go!"

Vyse shook himself and ran for the levers Drachma had pointed out. Grasping each one firmly, he leaned back and pulled hard, but it was obvious they hadn't been used in a long time and the gears were lax about budging. Bracing his feet against the console, he gave each a hard jerk, and finally he felt something give and heard the sound of wood slapping against wood as the wings happily gave in to the strain of the wind and folded against the sides of the ship.

At the same time, Aika was wrestling with the pectoral crank, running against it to try and get it to budge. It suddenly jolted to the right, sending her crashing into the wall with the remaining momentum she had stored up. As the crank began to slide, she hurried back over to it and pulled it back as far as it could go, locking it into place. The _Little Jack_ visibly slowed, but Drachma seemed to be having a slightly easier time at the wheel.

Fina was having the most trouble. While she learned quickly, she was not a born sailor, and though she knew well enough how to raise the ship's altitude, the winds decided they had other plans and slowed her gradual ascent. She strained against the handle, pushing with all the might her little body could muster, and slowly, out of the mist, Vyse saw the upper cloud layer draw near.

And then it was before them. The obscuring fog abruptly cleared as it was whisked away in the winds, and the four found themselves staring at a cyclone that was almost impossibly large. The titan of wind was composed of three separate tornadoes that had twisted themselves together, caught so much in their own vortexes that they had no hope of escaping. They seemed to suck the very sky into their depths and twist down into oblivion, and spun with a fury that was difficult to follow with the eye. It spat out all sorts of debris in its wake, from ship parts to treasure pieces to hunks of trees, each of which battered the _Little Jack_ and threatened to shatter its windows once more.

Fina gasped softly and threw herself against the altimeter handle. It cranked itself all the way to the top and the ship abruptly nosed upwards, lurching towards the clouds. The _Little Jack's_ masts disappeared into the upper cloud layer, but the ship could go no higher, both because it lacked the power and because the pressure would crush it. She balanced it back out, so the bow was level again, but the ship shuddered and suddenly fishtailed to the right. Drachma grunted and spun the wheel in the same direction to try and even it out, only to find them headed straight for the cyclone.

"Dammit!" he roared, wrestling the wheel in the other direction.

But it was too late for the _Little Jack_. It fishtailed again, and swung around, careening completely out of control. Though Drachma fought, it was in vain, and Vyse watched in horror as the rudder snapped and went flying off, eventually getting pulled into the raging winds. The ship begun to spin wildly, knocking the four off their feet and sending them crashing into the opposite wall. All around them, nothing but swirling gray filled the window, moving so fast that it was sickening to watch. They braced themselves against the wall, squeezed their eyes shut, and waited.

"Rhaknam...you win..." Drachma murmured, in defeat. "No, I mean it."

"I-I'm so sorry...everybody..." Fina began to cry softly. "I didn't...I mean...I'm sorry for doing this to you...all of you..."

"Heh...I would rather die this way than die sitting around, or at the hands of Valua." Vyse smiled down at her, pulling both the girls close. "Fina...I'm glad we met. Very glad..."

"Uhm...Vyse..." Aika said quietly, as the ship shuddered and began to buck. "There's...something I've wanted to tell you for a while..."

She couldn't finish, for suddenly the _Little Jack_ flipped over, barrel rolled, and then righted itself. The din of everything crashing below deck was deafening, and the motion in itself scattered them like billiard balls, tossing them all about the cabin. But as abruptly as it had came, it suddenly stopped, and the _Little Jack_ came to a standstill. The roaring of the winds had subsided and everything was eerily calm.

Slowly, Vyse climbed to his feet, looking around. Aika groaned and tried to get up, and Fina slowly, with Cupil's support, stood as well. Drachma was motionless, but still clearly breathing. His aged body could not take the impact and he was quite obviously knocked out.

"Are we...are we dead?" Aika asked.

"I...don't think so..." Fina replied. "At least...not as far as Silvite beliefs go..."

"No...we're not!" Vyse ran over to the window, peering out of it and down with wide eyes. "Look! Look, you two--!"

The girls hurried to join him by the window, and gasped almost in unison at what they beheld. The _Little Jack_ was hovering in place, lazily turning around in a counter clockwise direction, and below them was a horde of objects doing the same. Many were old ships, ghost ships, that had obviously been there for an eternity, their sails torn, their hulls damaged, and gold spilling out of their sides. Mingling with them were the distinctive orange and red vessels of Nasr, many merchant vessels, whose wares swirled around them lazily, having long ago escaped the crates and barrels they came in. Entire trees bobbed around them, tall beyond belief, torn from their roots and slowly dying. Mingling with them were dead birds and exotic animals Vyse had never seen before, glittering grains of Nasrean sand, and even, to his shock, pieces of a Valuan battleship.

"Where...where are we...?" he asked.

"This must be the Tricyclone's eye..." Fina replied, looking around. "Every storm has an eye, a calm spot...even that hurricane I told you about."

"Everything's so...dead..." Aika said, gazing around in utter shock. "We're...we're floating in a ship graveyard!"

"Well, let's not let it become our graveyard, too!" Vyse replied, crouching down next to Drachma's fallen form. "Here, give me a hand. Let's put the Captain somewhere safe and then we can get out of here."

"What are you _talking_ about?" Aika demanded. "If we try to leave, we'll just get sucked right back in!"

"Not...not necessarily..." Fina quietly replied. "We have one chance..."

Aika blinked and stared at her.

"My people...we study everything. I mean, _everything_..." Fina replied. "We're well versed in the laws of physics, just as we are in anything else."

"Physics?" Aika asked. "What's that?"

"A science," Fina replied. "The study of why things happen as they happen, such as why the sky is blue, why the grass is green, and why things fall after being thrown up in the air. Physics."

"Oh." Aika still didn't look like she understood, but nodded nevertheless.

"We were very fortunate, being sucked in at the base of the Tricyclone," Fina went on, gazing back out the window. "This is the thinnest and weakest part. All we need to do is sail in the opposite direction that the cyclones are spinning in and then sail straight into it. Because we're going the wrong way, and their force is stronger, they'll fling us back out and hopefully far enough away that we'll be able to sail away from it."

"Are you serious? Would that really work?" Vyse asked.

"Well...I-I can't promise anything..." Fina replied, quietly, "but it's worth it, taking the risk...right?"

"Hahaha! You sound just like a Blue Rogue now!" Aika cheered, hugging her tightly. "I guess that settles things then, huh?"

"Pretty much. I won't argue." Vyse grinned. "Now, let's go. Lift the Captain on the count of three and we'll take him down to his room. Ready? One, two, three!"

Drachma's awkward size made him difficult to get downstairs more than his weight, though Cupil flattened himself out to help balance the old man from underneath. When they had safely laid him down on his bed and Fina checked real quick to be sure he wasn't injured, they then closed the door and went back upstairs, picking their way around everything that had fallen, scattered, and broken when the _Little Jack_ had tumbled. When they returned to the bridge, Vyse pulled the wings back out and Aika reactivated the pectoral fins as Fina carefully lowered their altitude slightly. When that was done, Vyse found himself staring out at the masts, which had somehow remained standing even after the strain they had been put under.

"Fina? When these things spit us out, will the wind be pushing us or pulling us?" he asked.

"Pushing, if we're thrown out at the correct angle," she replied.

Vyse nodded, and began to go below deck. "Let's get the sails out, then, and raise them back up."

"Perfect," Aika replied, following him.

The sails were quite large, and getting them out of storage and onto the deck was simply half the battle. Raising them was the other half. Between three people, unfolding the sails and hooking them up properly was not easy, and Vyse began to wonder how Drachma ever managed it on his own. As the girls fastened them to their pulleys and pulled them taut, Vyse heaved on the proper ropes to hoist them, slowly raising them to full mast. The mainsail was easily the most difficult, and it was almost an hour before they had it properly raised, but their handiwork was neat and the sails were tight, ready to catch the wind at a moment's notice.

"Alright," Vyse said at last, satisfied at their work. "Let's give this our best shot, you two!"

"I'm ready when you are!" Aika replied. Fina simply smiled and nodded.

Vyse led the two back into the cabin and stepped up to the helm. The girls remained at his side, ready to take something over if he needed it, and he slowly turned the engine back on, beginning to circle the eye of the cyclone in the wrong direction. He gradually increased the speed of the ship, relying on Fina for guidance, but the faster the _Little Jack_ went, the more tense he became. They only had one shot, and Drachma was now unconscious. He knew this ship far better than Vyse did, that was for sure. It was up to the rogue boy alone to get them all out alive.

When Fina was satisfied with their speed, she began to describe the angle Vyse had to sail out at, pointing it out to him. What was important, she said, was that he kept the ship straight and remained unafraid of sailing into the swirling clouds. She watched their progress closely, analyzing the approach of the clouds with her large, deep eyes.

"Now!" she cried.

Vyse put the engines to full power and drove the _Little Jack _straight into the cloud mass.

He was never sure what quite happened then. It felt like the ship hit a wall, something to the caliber of the Grand Fortress' size and strength, and then they were knocked off their feet and thrown clear to the other side of the cabin. Again they were spinning, and again more things shattered below deck as the ship was flung wildly out of control, lost in the howling of the winds. Everything around Vyse was a swirl of gray and a blur of the _Little Jack_'s bridge, and it remained so for quite some time. When at last the spinning had ceased and the howling of the wind had died down, Vyse found himself too sick to move.

Aika and Fina had beaten him to the helm by the time his nausea had subsided and he was able to stand again. What he found himself looking at was open sky, and the speed of the _Little Jack_ at its normal rate as it pushed against the South Ocean headwinds. The sails were full and brimming, and the ship hummed quietly as it chugged along, albeit unsteadily without a rudder. The compass had stopped its chaotic spinning and now pointed true west, the direction they had originally been sailing in.

"We did it," Aika said, with a smile. "I'm beginning to think that there's nothing we can't overcome!"

"Heh." Vyse grinned and came between the two girls, putting an arm around both of their shoulders. "I already knew _that_."


	14. Return of a Goddess

There was plenty to do in the rest of the way as Vyse, Aika, Fina, and even Drachma worked to clean the ship up from their encounter with the Tricyclone. Anything broken was tossed overboard, but most of it was salvageable and within time found its proper place again. Cleaning up the ammunition storage was the most difficult part, for the cannonballs had scattered everywhere, busting open barrels of gunpowder and moonstone dust, which made quite the mess. Cleaning that up took a week in itself, for Drachma didn't want either powder in a single crack between the floorboards.

"Whole damn ship might blow up," he said.

By that time, the cyclones had grown more scarce and the winds had died down, making it much easier to sail again. The _Little Jack_ was extremely difficult to handle without a rudder, to the point where neither Fina nor Aika could sail it anymore, but since there was no longer a need to work night shifts lest they lose progress, Vyse and Drachma handled the helm while the girls worked below. It felt good to Vyse to be with everyone again during the day, working until nightfall and falling back into a more normal routine. After all, he believed that sailing was never meant to be a lonely endeavor.

Some time after the second moon had passed, about two weeks later, Vyse stepped up to the helm one morning to take over for Drachma when he noticed more leaves blowing in the wind. They caught in the sails and wrapped themselves around the _Little Jack_'s rigging, as if embracing the whaling vessel. Blinking, the rogue lifted his eyes to the sky, and gasped at what he saw there.

"A moon! The Green Moon! Guys! I see the Green Moon!"

There was a great clamoring below as the three rushed up to join him. Aika and Fina were covered in flour dust, caught right in the middle of cooking breakfast, and Drachma's mouth was foamed over as he was caught in the middle of brushing his teeth.

"We made it! We've reached Ixa'taka!" Fina cried, ecstatically.

"I knew we could do it!" Aika laughed and took Fina by the hands, beginning to dance around with her excitedly, sending clouds of flour everywhere. "We made it! We made it! We made it! Blessed lands...just think! There must be all kinds of wonderful things to eat there. All sorts of fruits and vegetables, of all sorts of sizes, shapes, and colors...mmm! I can taste it already!"

"Yeah, and I bet there are just as many carnivorous animals lurking in the jungle, preying on unsuspecting fools who sit there, stuffing their faces with fruit," Vyse replied, with a smirk.

Aika face faulted and abruptly ceased her dance. "Hey, you don't have to smash my hopes like that..."

"Hmph. Well. Not to further damper yer mood, but Vyse'd better find a place to land 'ere soon," Drachma replied, spitting his toothpaste out into a cup he had brought up with him. "We've got enough fuel to last us for half a day...and then that's it."

With that, he disappeared back below the deck.

"Oh...oh my..." Fina looked worried, clasping her hands over her chest. "We're just barely out of South Ocean now...and there's no land in sight. I...I don't know where any of the Ixa'Takan villages are. They're all hidden within the jungle, out of sight."

"Can you at least draw us a map?" Vyse asked.

Fina nodded. "Yes, that would be easy."

"You do that, then, and I'll finish up our rolls down below," Aika replied. "It sounds to me like we don't have room for hesitation, you know?"

"Y-yes...oh, most definitely."

Fina sat down, picked up a quill, and began to scribble something out on the back of one of Drachma's old maps. It took her a little while, but Vyse realized why when he decided to go check on her progress after twenty or so minutes. She had drawn an incredibly detailed map of a large, roughly crescent-shaped continent and its adjoining islands, including where the major mountains and bodies of water were. Vyse gawked at the sheer size of it all.

"That place is bigger than Valua!" he exclaimed. "But...I can't read your writing..."

"Oh!" Fina blushed immensely. "I-I forgot...your system of writing is very different from ours .I-I'm sorry..."

"It's alright. Tell me the names of the places, and I'll write them in," Vyse replied, gently taking the quill from her.

"Oh...uhm...well, okay." Fina smiled and scooted her barrel over, giving Vyse access to the map. "This is the most important location in Ixa'Taka. It's called Rixis. I don't know exactly where it is -- I only know its location from our own maps -- but that's where the Green Moon Crystal is hidden. This body of water here nearby it is Lake Tuhalacoutl, and next to that is Lake Coutzacalan."

"These are bizarre names," Vyse commented, as he wrote the appropriate lettering in. "I don't even know how to spell all that."

"Just try your best, that's all I ask." Fina smiled. "Alright...that big island there is Horteka. Next to that is Kahala and Cocotl, respectively. That one there Tlaloc, that one's Ixa'ness, and that tiny one is Kehemotenotichitclan."

Vyse blinked. "Kehewha? Are you serious?"

Fina nodded. "Yes."

"Uhm...okay..." Vyse made a poor attempt at spelling out the island's name. "And this one in the corner here?"

"Just call it Sacred Mountain," Fina replied, with a smile. "That's what the name translates into."

"Why couldn't you translate Kehewhatsis for me?" Vyse asked, with a grin.

"Because." Fina giggled. "It's too complicated."

Vyse laughed. "I give up."

When they were just about done translating Fina's Silvite writing into Meridian, Drachma came up the stairs to find Vyse away from the helm and roared at him, sending him skittering back to his post. Fina bowed and apologized repeatedly and then vanished back down the stairs.

By the afternoon, Aika had spotted land up in the crow's nest. She ran to the bridge with her exciting news, and soon enough, a whole fleet of islands came into view before them. The sight Vyse beheld was amazing, for there wasn't an inch of any island they passed that was not blanketed in dense forest from coast to coast. The trees were so thickly intertwined that he couldn't tell where the actual crust of the island was. The air was full of a thick and heavy mist, and it wasn't long before the windows of the ship were fogging up with all the humidity. Vyse began to sweat as the girls worked to keep the windows clean.

There was virtually no breeze around them, so Drachma ordered that the sails be furled. That did not bode well, for that meant that the _Little Jack_ had to run completely under its own power, and Vyse could tell Drachma was getting nervous as he watched the fuel gage slowly drop. Fina was polishing her silver moonstone and doing some sort of refinery to it when the engines abruptly quit on them.

"Crap!" Vyse cried. "Captain, we're sinking!"

"We're too heavy...we're far too heavy. The _Little Jack_'s gonna drop like a rock." Drachma frowned. "Boy, we ain't gotta choice. Crash land on that island o'er there."

"But we'll be marooning ourselves!" Aika protested.

"It's either that or die. Do it, boy!" Drachma ordered.

Vyse gritted his teeth, turned the wheel, and locked the pectoral fins so they were parallel with the wings of the ship. And then, he waited, for it was all he could do as he tensely guided the _Little Jack_ down to the forest canopy. He winced as he heard the branches scrape against the hull of the ship, and the _Little Jack_ plowed through the treetops as if they were nothing, sending birds fluttering off in alarm. Seeing a clearing up ahead, and knowing that steering was useless with no rudder and the fins locked, he released all the air the _Little Jack_ had stored up in order to make it drop altitude even more rapidly. It hit the top of a cliff, skidded along it, and then dropped to the clearing below, where it ran into something hard and metallic and nearly shoved it down onto the next layer of the island. When they were sufficiently buried into the silty soil and had uprooted many plants, however, they finally came to a stop, and all was quiet.

"Damn ship's gonna fall to pieces after all this..." Drachma grumbled.

"Let's get outside and assess the damage," Vyse replied. "At least there's plenty of wood around here to make repairs with. Maybe we can root up some moonstones, too."

"Vyse, wait!" Aika called as the rogue hurried down the stairs.

When Vyse was out on deck, he found that the _Little Jack_ had taken no damage at all, thanks to the reinforcements from the _Lynx_. What they had landed next to, however, was far different. It was a strange-looking ship, made completely from scrap metal, and driven by two paddles on the sides -- or, at least, it had been, before crashing and nearly snapping itself in half. Standing on the deck was a very bewildered looking boy, his mother, and three younger siblings, all of whom were gawking at them. To his surprise, they looked like normal people. In fact, they wore the clothing of air pirates!

"Ahoy!" Vyse greeted, waving at them. "Uhm...sorry about the ship..."

"Did you come in through North Ocean?" the boy called.

"No, we came in through South Ocean," Vyse replied.

The boy looked startled. "That's...that's not possible. The only reason we ended up here was because we got stuck in a hurricane in North Ocean and blown off course. Nobody can cross South Ocean..."

"Who are you?" Vyse asked, as the others joined him out on deck. "And can you tell me where we are?"

The boy murmured something to his mother. She nodded to him. "Hans Powall," he finally replied.

"Powall? You Centime's kid?" Drachma asked.

Hans blinked. "Do you know my father, sir?"

"What Blue Rogue don't?"

"Ah! You're air pirates, too!" Hans' mother looked relieved. "Forgive me. We're the crew of the _Iron Clad_...I'm Centime's wife, Mary. I can't tell you how glad I am to see some friendly faces in this place."

"I'm Vyse Dyne, son of the captain of the Blue Storm," Vyse replied. "This is Aika Nakal, also of the Blue Storm, and Fina Selvarn from...very far away. And our Captain's Drachma McFaer...he's an independent."

"As are we." Hans smiled. "Wow, the Blue Storm...what a chance meeting, huh?"

"Why did you say this place was unfriendly?" Aika asked, curiously.

"Oh...here, let us board your ship. I guess we've got some explaining to do."

Hans and his mother jumped across to the deck of the _Little Jack_ while the three young siblings stayed behind and disappeared back into the cabin. Vyse caught a glimpse of the third one, a little girl, and was startled at how different she looked from the boys. He knew Centime adopted many children, but there was something distinctly different about the little girl.

When they drew close, Vyse realized that Hans and his mother, Mary, looked very ragged. It was apparent they had been on the island for a while, but seemed to be quite healthy nevertheless. They sat down on the deck, Hans smeared with gear grease and Mary smeared with dirt, and then began their story.

"Oh...about three moons ago...we were sailing out in North Ocean when we hit a hurricane, like I said," Hans began. "My dad lost control of the ship and the wind flung us through a couple sky rifts into this place, where we crash landed on the island. I think it's called Horteka; I can't understand anything else the natives are saying. They're a strange people, but my father took to them fast and even adopted an orphan girl from the local tribe here. At first the tribes people viewed us with some enmity and suspicion, but when we showed them that we meant no harm and even helped them in their daily life, they accepted us and allowed us to stay. Everything was good, and my father and I worked to repair the ship, until Valua came to the island."

Vyse and Aika sputtered in unison at those words. Fina simply gasped.

"What?! Valua?" Aika asked. "You mean they're here too?"

Hans nodded, grimly. "I don't know how long they've been here...but they came through and ransacked the village, demanding they be given a Green Moon Crystal, whatever that is. When they had torn the entire village apart and found nothing, they gave up and captured all the men in sight, taking them into slavery. They discovered us in their search and kidnapped my father so they could force him into using his inventing skills to make weaponry for them. We...haven't seen him since. My mother and I helped to rebuild the village, and now I'm back to work on the _Iron Clad_, but...I'm not sure where exactly I should be looking for my father if I ever do finish it."

"Oh...my..." Vyse was shocked. "Where's this village you spoke of? Perhaps we can figure out what's going on. Fina can speak--"

"Vyse!" Aika shrieked, jumping and clutching onto his arm in a panic. "Vyse, look!"

Vyse turned and looked to where she was pointing. A dozen or so men had come out of a hole in the cliff wall, and they were savage sights to behold. Each man was well muscled and limber, with skin burned a deep, deep tan of the likes Vyse had never seen on a person before, not even in Nasr. They wore barely anything, save for loincloths made of animal hide and jewelry made from earth and feathers, and each of their faces was hidden behind a highly decorated wooden mask. Their hair, which grew long and wild, was either green or blue, and their bodies were covered in various tattoos and painted markings. Each one was armed with a spear and advancing towards them.

"Those are the natives," Hans whispered. "Let them come to you, they won't do any harm."

But Fina was panicked. Jumping to her feet, she hopped down from the deck, raised her arms out to the sides, and quickly prattled something off to the men in a complicated yet beautiful language Vyse had never heard before. Upon the mere sight of her, the men froze in their tracks, trembled, and abruptly dropped to their knees, bowing deeply to her.

"QUEYTA!" they chorused.

Fina looked startled. She uttered a word quizzically.

The men remained where they were.

Aika blinked. "What's going on?"

"I...I really don't know." Hans was startled. "They never did this when _we_ met them."

"Perhaps it's because that girl can speak their language?" Mary guessed.

Frowning, Vyse hopped down beside Fina and studied the men. The Silvite looked confused.

"What's going on?" Vyse asked.

"I'm...I'm not sure." Fina hurried over to one of the men at the head of the pack and reached for him, trying to get him to stand. He trembled and refused, uttering something to her in his native language. Vyse heard the word 'Queyta' being repeated over and over again.

"Oh...oh my..." Fina stepped back, incredulous.

"What is it?" Vyse asked, a bit concerned.

"Queyta...Queyta is the name of their goddess," Fina replied, eyes wide. "They think that _I_ am Queyta!"

Aika sputtered from back on deck again.

"What?!" Vyse blinked. "Well...I...erm...an easy mistake, I suppose. Did you tell them who you really are?"

"I tried to introduce myself, but they have no idea who the Silvites or even the Blue Rogues are. Those words mean nothing to them," Fina replied. "It...it passed right over their heads. They insist that I am Queyta."

The men began to converse to each other then, and half of the group nodded, disappearing back through the hole in the wall. The apparent leader of the pack, a man who wore a cloak of blue bird feathers and who had a bow slung around his back, bowed to her on one knee and seemed to address her quite formally.

"Uhm...well..." Fina looked back to Vyse, Aika, and Drachma. "His name is Tika Tika. He wants to take us to see the village elder and the village priests."

"Good! Someone to finally explain some things to us." Drachma dropped off the side of the ship and joined them, and Aika followed.

"Come back and let us know if you've been able to sort anything out!" Mary called, waving to them.

Fina nodded, then turned and spoke to Tika Tika. He nodded as well, humbly climbed to his feet, and began to lead the way.

The tunnel through the cliffside was narrow and steep, but the walk was not long and soon the party emerged in an immense clearing that Vyse had failed to see due to the cover of the trees high above. It was the heart of the Horteka settlement, and what Vyse saw was amazing.

A few good hundred yards to his left was a broad waterfall that cascaded down into a basin below. The basin, a lake full of the sparkling water tinged green in places with moss, was fairly deep and brimming with fish, and he could just barely make out the bottom. Rising up from it like the legs of a giant were massive trees that were easily dozens of feet around and hundreds of feet tall, reaching towards the sky and seeming to touch it with ease. They were all almost perfectly straight and covered in ivy and vines, which wrapped around their dark sienna trunks like finely woven robes. Their canopies were broad and obscured the entire sky, but there were enough gaps between the tightly woven branches and broad, fat leaves to let in ample sunlight that gently gilded everything below. Hung between the trees was an entire village, an intricate network of thatched huts with fern leaf roofs and doors of brightly colored curtains -- no more and no less. A whole series of wooden docks and catwalks wound around the village, scaling up the trees, down to the water, and between each hut.

"Oh my gosh...this is amazing..." Aika breathed.

* * *

"Your village is beautiful," Fina remarked to Tika Tika in his native tongue, as the hunter lead them down the docks towards the water. "My companions think so, too."

"Horteka is the capitol of Ixa'Taka, Enlightened One," Tika Tika replied, proudly. "Its beauty surpasses that of any other in the land."

Fina blushed. The Ixa'takans had already put her in a rather uncomfortable position, and there was little she could do about it. She glanced back at Vyse and Aika, but the two were too busy looking around.

"I want to climb one of these trees!" Vyse announced, suddenly. "Just to see if I can!"

"You'd fall three feet up," Aika teased.

"Mmm..." Tika Tika's strong jaw moved a little, and he looked contemplative. "I have the eyes of an eagle. My sight rivals that of the strongest of birds. But in all my life, I have never seen a warrior or a handmaiden who spoke as much as those two. Is that truly acceptable, Enlightened One?"

"Warrior? Handmaiden?" Fina blinked. "Vyse is...well, I suppose he's a warrior. But Aika's not my handmaiden. She's a warrior too."

"An Ixa'ness, then. We must keep her from the men."

Fina sighed.

The catwalk continued to wind amongst the trees and over the water. As Fina followed her guide across it, she noticed a whole variety of animals flickering amongst the trees. All of them were brightly colored and exotic, stretching the limits of her imagination. She had read about such creatures during her studies, and even seen sketches of them, but seeing them in full and blazing color was another thing entirely.

The village was active, but most people stayed within their huts. Those who they passed along the catwalks were stunned upon the sight of Fina, and quickly dropped to their knees. Word seemed to travel fast in the village; it wasn't long before the boardwalks were lined with kneeling people, who uttered prayers in Queyta's name. Fina was tremendously uncomfortable, but had no clue what to do about it. How could she explain to all these people that they were mistaken?

Vyse came up behind her, looking concerned, and placed a hand on one of her slender shoulders. She looked back at him with her large eyes and he startled a minute before slowing his pace to match her own.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I...I really wish they wouldn't do this..." Fina replied. "I am not deserving of such praise. Isn't this the same as lying to them?"

"Well..." Vyse debated over that for a little while. "You said you've told them the truth, but they refuse to hear it. If they are determined to believe what they believe, then you aren't lying to them."

Fina mulled over those words for a bit in her mind. After a moment, she began to relax beneath Vyse's hand. "I...I guess..."

Vyse grinned. "For now, I'd say you should just play along. We might as well, if it's what the people want." He frowned. "I just hope we don't end up taking this sort of treatment for granted. To tell you the truth, I really don't like it either."

Fina smiled. "I know you wouldn't, Vyse. You're not like that. I don't think any of us are."

As she turned back, she realized that Tika Tika had brought them to their destination. Before them was a massive hut, easily three times the size of any of the others, which was decorated with a whole myriad of scary looking masks for protection. A little dock lead out behind the hut to a ladder that scaled the vine-covered cliff wall to the mesa summit high above them, but Fina couldn't tell what, if anything, was atop it.

Tika Tika stepped up to the curtain and pulled it back, bowing deeply to her.

"Enlightened One, Great Queyta, please enter," he said. "This dwelling is humble, but it is shelter to those most wise."

It was comforting to Fina to know that the Ixa'Takans valued the knowledge and wisdom of their Elders. That was something she could actually understand. The Silvites did in fact believe in the power of wisdom, and that the older one was, the wiser they could be. Before disappearing on his quest, Ramir had been an apprentice of sorts to the High Elder, to take his place when he had died. In the back of her mind, Fina wondered if her brother would ever return to the shrine to complete his studies with High Elder Prime, as he had so fervently attempted to do five years earlier. Or was it that he was truly happier with his new life in Valua?

Fina had to admit to herself that she _was_ loving her life down amongst the Island Dwellers. Though their society was nearly the opposite of her own, she had by now gotten over her culture shock and realized that, despite how informal and relatively disrespectful everyone was, people were all extremely nice and willing to help. She even had faith in the Valuans, who she believed to be mislead and not truly evil. Her memories of the brief friendship she had formed with Enrique were fond, and even his mother, despite her corruption, had some relatively good intentions.

As she stepped inside the hut, Fina found her expectations to be a little unfulfilled. The village elder was nothing like her own Elders, but she reminded herself that these people were hunter-gatherers who lacked technology and instead chose to live by nature. The shriveled old man was little more than wrinkled brown skin and a long purple beard, but he held himself with a dignity she recognized, and it brought a smile to her lips. Standing on either side of him where he sat were the priests of the village who, like him, wore flowing robes to denote their high rank. The priests, however, had their faces hidden behind masks, while the Elder did not.

Upon the sight of Fina, the priests trembled and bowed, murmuring prayers that weren't quite intelligible. But the Elder made no movement whatsoever; she realized he was blind.

"My wishes for your continued health, Elder..." Fina said, bowing to the old man as though he were himself a Silvite.

"Queyta..." The old man reached aimlessly for her with one hand. "You come here to bless us with your radiance, and I can not even look upon it."

"Physical blindness leads to greater spiritual sight," Fina replied with a smile, as she patted the old man's hand. "I think that is far more valuable. What have you seen these past few moons, Elder?"

"It is not what I have seen, but what I have heard," the Elder replied, sadly. "Queyta, surely you know of our plight. You have come to deliver us from those devilish Men from the East!"

Fina hesitated, picking her words carefully. "I know...to an extent...what is going on in Ixa'Taka. But I wish for you to tell me what the Val--what the Men from the East have done to you here in Horteka."

"If you know one story, Enlightened One, you know them all," said the Elder. "It is the same here as it has been in all the other villages. Ten years ago the Eastern Men came here and began to harm the forest. The upturned the earth and burned down the trees in order to dig up moonstones and gold. The more they found, the more people they wanted to dig it up...so they started kidnapping our men to work as slaves in their mines. We tried to fight back, but their ships breathe fire and their weapons spurt lightning -- you no doubt saw how quickly we were humbled. Now we must pay a tribute of slaves to them twice a year, and our numbers are dwindling severely. And then...a few moons ago...the Valuans began to pillage our villages, demanding we give them the Sacred Green Stone. We don't have it, of course...it's been lost since the Days of Old."

"Yes...it now lies out of reach at the summit of Rixis." Fina frowned deeply. "But now I...I understand." Gloomily, she turned and translated the entire story for her companions. By the time she finished, Vyse was furious.

"Damn them! They have no right to do this!"

"I didn't even know they'd discovered this place. Hmm..." Drachma frowned. For once, he actually looked a bit unsettled.

"What are we gonna do?" Aika asked. "Do you _know_ where Rixis is, Fina?"

"Only generally..." Fina bowed her head. "But now that I see how thick the jungles are...I don't think I could find it on my own..."

"Is there a king of these lands?" Vyse asked, after a moment's thought. "If anybody, I bet you he would know where it is."

Fina smiled and nodded. "That's true. I will ask him." Turning to the Elder, she reverted to the Ixa'Takan tongue and asked, "Where is your king? Is he not in the village?"

"King Temahalan is currently in exile," the Elder replied, grimly. "To the north of this village, in between the two large mesas, is a tiny island with a gigantic tree on it. Hidden amongst the branches of this tree is a hut, and that is where our King is hiding."

"Then we will go to meet him as soon as possible," Fina replied, nodding. She bowed to him, earning shocked reactions from the priests and Tika Tika, who hovered respectably in the doorway. "Thank you very much."

The Elder beamed. "I never thought I'd live to the day when I had the most Enlightened of all Goddesses thank me for anything." He bowed to her, nearly falling out of his chair in the process. "Queyta, I am truly not worthy."

Fina didn't know how to reply to that, so simply didn't. As she turned for the doorway, however, the priests stopped her and bowed deeply, still trembling a little.

"Great Enlightened One, Almighty Queyta, allow us to escort you and your servants to your quarters. They are far too humble for one of your stature, please forgive us, but it is the best we can do under the conditions. Tonight we shall hold a feast in your honor, and we will celebrate the coming liberation of Ixa'Taka."

"Uhm...t-thank you..." Were the only words Fina could find to reply with. She turned and translated for the others.

"Heck, I don't care where they put us, as long as we've got time to work on the _Little Jack_," Vyse replied, shaking his head. "If we're lucky, we might be able to head for the King's hideout by tomorrow."

"Lighten up, already!" Aika elbowed him, rather hard. "Hello! We haven't partied in a good long time! We've been way too serious these past few moons. It's time to kick up our heels for once!"

"Business comes first when yer sailin' with me," Drachma replied, frowning down at her. "We ain't going to no celebration 'til the _Little Jack's_ back in flyin' condition."

"C'mon, Cap'n, when's the last time you went to a party?" Aika protested.

He snarled at her.

Fina was getting anxious. She didn't like it when tempers rose. "L-let's have them take us up to our quarters, and then we can work on the _Little Jack_. I-if we...if we work fast, we can still make the celebration, too. I do think it's important that we move as fast as possible, though...I-I mean...Valua's looking for the crystal as we speak..."

"Good point." Vyse nodded. "Have them lead on, then."

Fina nodded to the priests to indicate for them to take the lead, and they did so, Tika Tika stepping back out of the doorway and bowing to her deeply. She fought against the urge to try and get him to rise back to his feet and simply followed along, the others coming out behind her. She emerged to find that the entire village had more or less crowded the docks and ramps the Elder's hut sat on, all trying to catch a glimpse of their legendary 'goddess', and all bowing fearfully as she finally emerged. She blushed immensely and sort of hid herself between Drachma and Vyse as they continued along, feeling very, very awkward.

They were taken up a series of long, steep ramps that wound their way up the trunks of the trees. Fina realized that a good amount of the settlement was actually hung in these trees, homes and workshops nestled snugly in the crooks of branches and concealed partway in the thick leaves. But their destination was high up above them all; they were taken to what had obviously been the King's hut, which sat in the canopy of the tallest tree on the island, completely concealed by the leaves but providing a view of everything down below perfectly. The hut itself was large and long, incorporated into the natural boughs of the branches and decorated with all sorts of ceremonial masks and ritual items. Inside there was still a good portion of the King's possessions left, from his golden throne to his plush floor mattress, a full wardrobe and a pile full of riches that made Aika's eyes gleam. It was the only hut with more than one room in it.

After thanking the priests and feeling awkward as she was given more bows, Fina flopped down into a seat on the bed mattress, Vyse and then Aika joining her. Drachma only grunted and leaned up against a wall, which creaked beneath his weight.

"This is bizarre..." Aika said, at last.

"Well...I-I guess we'll have to bear with it, as Vyse said..." Fina stared down at her hands, folded in her lap. "But...what are we supposed to do now?"

"Our first priority, I think, is the _Little Jack_. Without it running, we're stuck here." Vyse looked between them all. "The hull sustained no damage...all we need is a new rudder and some fuel."

"Hmph. Well. Looks like we ain't got no choice but to ask the Powalls for that," Drachma grunted.

"I'd feel guilty -- they've already got enough on them -- but it looks like we have no choice." Vyse frowned. "I doubt the Ixa'Takans know how to properly refine moonstones."

"What about the wood needed for the rudder?" Fina asked. "We can't just cut it from any tree. That's taboo here; the trees are sacred."

"I guess we'll have to ask Hans about that, too." Vyse sighed. "We should probably get going. Looks like we've got some work to do.

"I-If you don't...uhm...if you don't mind...I'd like to stay here," Fina replied. "I'm going to ask around about Rixis and the moon crystal, just to see how much the people here know."

"Not a bad idea, really. We need all the information we can get." Vyse grinned, then tensed a little as some people appeared in the doorway. The priests had returned, and were carrying with them a whole variety of clothing and jewelry.

"What do they want?" Aika asked.

"Uhm...Aika..." Fina was bashful. "Have you heard the saying, 'When in Valua, do as the Valuans do?'"

* * *

"I feel so...naked..." Vyse later murmured as he felt a draft of the humid air go up his loincloth. His leather moccasins lacked traction as he attempted to scale down the cabin of the _Little Jack_ and he slipped, falling back down to the deck with a thud. "Ow!"

"There's a reason I didn't let 'em touch me," came Drachma's voice from down below somewhere.

Vyse only smirked. Much as his new outfit was unusual for him, he was having fun with the new culture Ixa'Taka presented. The gift-bearing priests had brought them a new, more local wardrobe to change in to, each reflecting their apparent status in the eyes of the villagers. Fina, of course, had been lavished with fine linens of the purest white, and laden in gold and jewels and feathers until she nearly fell over backwards. Aika was given a much more simple outfit, a two-piece wrap that was nowhere near as fancy as Fina's robes, but still of a much higher quality than the rest of the villagers' clothing. Her hair was re-braided with dyed leather cords and long feathers woven into it, and she was decorated lightly with face paint. He wasn't at all surprised that the wild look suited her perfectly.

Drachma had rather vehemently refused to allow the priests to touch him, and hadn't changed at all, but Vyse had donned, out of curiosity more than anything else, the garb of an exalted warrior -- which turned out not to be much, to Fina's intense embarrassment. A loincloth and a pair of ankle and wrist bracers were all that he wore in addition to his moccasins, leaving a good majority of his farmer's-tanned skin bare. As if to make up for it, they had slathered him in ceremonial paint, covering almost every part of his bared body in tribal markings of bright colors. A few feathers had been beaded into his hair, and they batted the back of his neck as he moved. It was both awkward and interesting at the same time. The reactions of Aika and Fina, as well as the Powalls when they first saw him, had been priceless.

"Looks even from up there, Cap'n," he called back down over the deck. "I'd say it's safe to fasten it into place now."

"Aye. Get down 'ere then, boy," the old man replied.

Vyse nimbly hopped down, his tool belt clanking around his trim waist as he jogged around the stern of the ship. Hans and Drachma were there waiting for them, securely holding their new rudder in place. It was a bit on the crude side, and hadn't been painted to match the rest of the ship, but had been made to generally fix the flaws of the old one. One thing was for certain: the wood that came from Ixa'Taka's forests was immensely strong and durable. Vyse knew they wouldn't be having problems with the rudder breaking anytime soon.

"I'll keep 'er steady," Drachma announced. "You two rivet 'er in'ta place. Make sure the cables're taught before ya do so."

"They're plenty taught, sir," Hans replied, tapping an expert hand against the hull. "No doubt about it. I can tell just by the way they sound."

"Well then, get movin'," the old man grunted.

The two nodded, and climbed up the scaffolding they had created in order to get to work. Using big sledgehammers that Drachma had kept on board, they pounded in each of the rivets to be sure the rudder stayed in place, beads of sweat rolling down their bodies as they worked hard in the humidity. It took a little while, and Vyse's arms began to tire, but he managed to pound in the last rivet without taking a break, much to Drachma's (well hidden) satisfaction.

Just as the two slid down from their perches, Aika appeared through the passageway that lead back into Horteka, clutching in her hands a lump of silver moonstone. It was completely translucent, and would have been invisible if it didn't shine so brightly. "I've got our fuel source," she announced.

"Whoa!" Hans exclaimed. "What in the six moons is that? It looks like it can power a ship for years!"

"According to Fina, it _can_," Vyse replied, staring at the glow in Aika's hands incredulously. "It looks a lot like the Moon Crystal. She didn't have to process it, we could have found plenty of green moonstones here..."

Aika shook her head. "She insisted. Supposedly green moonstones aren't a very reliable fuel. She says this will keep the _Little Jack_ going no matter what."

"But she can't use silver magic now..." Vyse said.

"Believe me. After that spell she touched in the temple, she doesn't want to," Aika replied.

"Wait...that's a silver moonstone?" It was Hans' turn to look incredulous, and he brushed his tawny hair out of his wide blue eyes as he looked the stone over. "That's...that's not possible. Silver moonstones are a horrible fuel."

"No...you just have to know how to process them right, apparently," Vyse replied. "Fina's people know how to do it. They're...rather advanced. More so than Valua."

"Where exactly is she from?" Hans asked.

"Haha...you wouldn't believe it if we told you," Aika replied, but proceeded to explain it to him anyways. In the meantime, Vyse took the moonstone from her and climbed back into the cabin of the ship, Drachma following along as he made his way to the engine room.

Vyse had never seen an empty fuel chamber before, and felt a little uncomfortable as he opened it up. The _Lynx_'s chamber was considerably smaller than the old engine's had been, but that was because it was a newer engine and much more fuel-efficient. He took out a brush and dustpan and began to scoop out all the powder left behind by the now-decimated moonstones they had previously used as fuel. It was messy work, and he wished moonstones didn't disintegrate into dust when they lost all their charge.

"Will you need the leftover powder, Captain?" he asked as he worked.

"Hmph. It's too mixed up t'be of any use," Drachma replied. Vyse heard a squeaking noise as he did something to the engine, likely tightening a valve or two. "Most o'it's red, but there's too much blue and yellow in there, too. Ain't worth sortin' out and purifyin'. Just dump it."

"Aye," Vyse replied. He poured everything he had scooped up into a waste barrel set aside for just the purpose, then went back a few more times to pick up what he couldn't previously before snapping the moonstone into place. Most fuel chambers had a capacity for at least seventy moonstones, even on small ships. But now only one sat in there, a lone hunk of silver that shone brightly and illuminated every crack and crevice. "I'm not so sure about this..." he murmured.

"I think she knows what she's doin'," Drachma grunted. "She was right about them Moon Crystals, I don't see why she wouldn't be right about regular moonstones, too." He shook his head. "Y'know, boy, life used to be simple..."

"Is this really so bad?" Vyse blinked, turning to look at the old man. "You know we're really grateful for you taking us around, Captain, but...we don't want to be a burden or anything."

"Hmph. Naw." Drachma only shook his head, his beard bristling slightly. "What else've I got t'do, old as I am? I ain't got nobody important I need t'see, y'know. I've just been wastin' m'life, sailin' in circles in search of a giant fish. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll run into 'im again while I'm sailin' with ya." He turned away and back to the engine.

"You mean you have no family?" Vyse asked. "No one at all?"

Drachma was quiet for a long time. "Get back out there," he ordered at last. "There's still work to get done.

Vyse sighed and began to head back up the stairs. He knew that was Drachma's way of saying 'Either shut up or change the subject.'

He emerged back outside in time to see a rather sizable fleet of ships approaching the island. It clearly wasn't the Armada, however, because these were wooden longboats more than anything else, crude but colorful ships that obviously belonged to the Ixa'Takans. They puttered and sputtered about noisily, run by obviously poorly constructed engines.

"Guess the party's arrived," Aika remarked with a bit of a smirk as he landed beside her. "I didn't think they'd invite other tribes."

"Wow. Geez." Vyse blinked. "Think maybe we should go get Fina?"

Aika shook her head. "The party's not gonna start for a while, but I was gonna head back to the hut anyways. Nothing else to do, and I can't understand a word these people are saying."

* * *

Fina had been silent for the rest of the afternoon, and by evening Vyse was getting worried. While she was naturally a quiet and shy person, this was usual even for her, but he figured he could attribute that to the unusual treatment the Ixa'Takans had given her. Her modesty was something else, and he knew they were making her uncomfortable with their praise. But what could they really do about it? He was worried the village warriors might spear them if he somehow convinced them she _wasn't_ Queyta, mistaking them for lying Valuans.

By the time the sun had gone down, and Fina still hadn't spoken, Vyse moved to approach her, but stopped when he realized she was clutching something in her tiny hands, staring down at it sadly. He didn't know what it was: something flat, square, mostly green with glittering lines of gold and silver on it, all wrapped up in a clear encasement of some sort. It was obviously from her homeland, and that's what made him realize what was wrong: she was homesick.

_It's been over four moons now..._ he realized, feeling a little guilty. _She must have lived a very, very sheltered life before coming here. I hope we don't overwhelm her too much..._

Just then, a whole flock of priests appeared at the doorway, waking Drachma from his deep, snoring sleep and startling Aika from where she sat counting the King's treasures with their prayer chanting. Fina jumped a bit in her chair, caught off guard, looking up just in time to have them bow low, kissing her feet and pouring fragrant oils at them. Once more, she looked uncomfortable.

There was a long exchange between the priests and Fina, during which Vyse and Aika stood by curiously. When they were done, they abruptly knelt down and picked up the entire platform Fina's throne was resting on -- apparently it had been made to be carried on the shoulders. She couldn't suppress a surprised cry, and wobbled unsteadily, clinging to the arms of the throne.

"Eeeek!"

"What's going on?" Aika asked.

"T-the party's ready..." Fina replied, as they hauled her out the door. Vyse blinked and quickly followed.

They were led to the bottom of the village and back to where the ships had crash-landed, then down a steep path that descended the cliffside in a switchback pattern to the next layer of the island far below. From his vantage point, Vyse could see a bright yellow glow coming out of the forest beneath them, undoubtedly caused by innumerable fires. The light of the waxing green moon radiated down upon them brightly, filling the darkened sky with a pale jade aura and causing the trees to shimmer like ripples on a lake. All around them, the jungle mists swirled at their feet, tinted a minty hue by the moon's light.

When they reached the bottom of the hill, they traipsed through the jungle for a while before they emerged in a massive clearing that was obviously used for celebrations such as this one. Vyse was overwhelmed at the amount of people who were gathered there, and Fina explained that they were from two of the neighboring islands, Kahala and Cocotl. Bonfires roared everywhere, and the people, seated on the ground, were talking excitedly. As their group came in, however, Fina carried atop the shoulders of the priests, all conversation abruptly ceased and the entire crowd bowed in nearly complete unison, chanting the name Queyta.

Fina blushed immensely as she was taken atop a high platform and at last settled down upon it. Three plush cushions were set down at her feet for the rest of them to sit upon, and though Drachma grumbled about it, eventually settled into one. The priests began to hold a ceremony and spoke loudly and excitedly to the crowd, whereupon they would cheer madly or chant to Fina. More and more, she looked ready to shrink away into the forest.

The ceremonies were long and drawn-out, and involved a lot of things being placed at Fina's feet. Every once in a while the priests would speak to her and she would reply in a tiny voice, which only elicited more roars from the crowd. They were too zealous; it was hopeless.

By the time the ceremonies were finally done, Vyse's stomach was roaring mightily. The priests brought them up the choiceiest bits of food from the serving pit, including an entire roast boar that Drachma proceeded to ravenously rip into. Only when the meal had been 'blessed' by Fina's presence were the others allowed to get up and serve themselves.

Dinner lasted a while, and everybody couldn't help but to stuff themselves, particularly Cupil. The Apis had stuffed himself so full that he was a good six times his original size, and no longer able to float. He dropped to the ground, a big squishy blob, and Fina had to roll him out of the way for later. Fina herself barely ate anything, but Vyse knew her appetite was small.

When most people were done eating, powerful drinks were served. Vyse could tell they were alcoholic, but it wasn't loqua; whatever it was, it was immensely strong and it took his breath away. His head began to swim a little and he wondered if there was some sort of hallucinogen in the sacred elixir. Aika began to get giddy, but Drachma seemed to handle it fine.

"Oh, show me the way to go home!" she sang at the top of her lungs.

While they were left to finish off their drinks (the priests confused as to why Fina wouldn't touch hers), a whole group of musicians came in, composed of all three of the tribes. They brought with them very primitive but rhythmic instruments, although Vyse noticed a few of them had guitars, likely hocked off a couple Valuan soldiers. Soon the tribal orchestra struck up the liveliest, most rhythmic tune he had ever heard, and the crowd sprang to its feet, beginning to dance around wildly as if there weren't a care in the world. Vyse's heart leapt, and he sprung to his feet, drawn by the freedom of the celebration. Before long he was dancing alongside the other warriors, moving completely to the beat. Aika eventually joined the crowd as well.

He could not recall a time where he had more fun. These people were alive and carefree, living their lives in the present, completely attuned to nature. They loved nothing more than good music, good food, and good company, and he began to envy them for their simplistic but enjoyable lifestyle. As far as he was concerned, this was what life was all about. He realized he wouldn't mind staying in Ixa'Taka's jungles for a while.

The energy in his body was limitless. It was as if the music channeled the wild powers of the jungle through them all, and nobody was yet to tire. When he thought to look up at last, he saw Fina hadn't budged, though she was smiling a little, tapping her fingers to the music and watching him. When their gazes met, she quickly and bashfully looked away, but he only grinned and ran up to her.

"C'mon!" he shouted over the din of the music.

"W-what? I..." Fina's voice was barely audible over everything. "But I can't dance. I only know Silvite dances, and..."

"So?" Vyse gave her a trademark grin, holding out a hand to her. "You think I know what I'm doing? There's no official dance to this sort of music; you just move your body along with it!"

Fina hesitated a long while, gazing up into his eyes with a fair amount of color tinging her cheeks. Finally, after a long while, she lifted her hand and slipped it into his, and his grin only grew as he pulled her to her feet. She gave a startled squeak as he excitedly tugged her down into the crowd, but he only laughed in response.

He was quick to resume his dancing again, moving to the beat, completely unrestrained. Fina's movements were tentative and unsure, and she didn't look ready to loosen up, so Vyse took her by the hands and swung her around. Again she was startled, but after that she seemed to realize that perhaps this was fun after all, and at last danced around with him. Though there was no obvious pattern to her movements, they were smooth and graceful of the likes Vyse had never seen in anyone before, not even in Belleza and her Nasrean dancing. It was decidedly something influenced by Silvite culture, foreign to him, but beautiful.

Again he took her by the hands, and she allowed it, laughing delightedly as they pranced about together. He spun her, dipped her, and danced in circles until she was breathless, but she was so caught up in the energy of the moment that she refused to quit. Her robes floated around her as she twirled about, tiny bare feet gliding effortlessly over the ground, as light as a soap bubble. Every time their bodies met, their hands twined together, or their elbows locked, he felt his vivacity -- and hers -- only grow.

This was a Fina he had never seen before, a Fina that was new and yet familiar. Perhaps she was finally coming out of her Silvite shell, or perhaps this was the influence of the Blue Rogues, a livelihood she was beginning to adapt to. Whatever the case, their time together came to a grinding halt when Fina suddenly realized that the crowd had long ago parted and formed a ring around them, watching in an awed stupor as the great goddess Queyta danced with her warrior. Her self-consciousness and shy nature immediately returned and, turning completely red, she ran off and back to her throne, halfway hiding herself behind Drachma's mass. She didn't dance for the rest of the night.


	15. DeLocoMotion

Vyse figured the day after the party, as heavy as that drink had been, that he'd have a hangover like no other. To his surprise, however, he felt very limber and energetic in the morning, and was ready to go first thing when everyone woke up. Aika and even Drachma found themselves feeling similar effects, though Fina, who had refused to drink the strange juice, took much longer to awaken.

The sun had barely risen before they had finished breakfast and were airborne again, the _Little Jack_ flowing smoothly under the power of Fina's silver moonstone. The Silvite clutched in her hands a rough map drawn for her by one of the priests that would lead them to the King's hideout, for, as prominent as the large tree was, it was still difficult to find amongst so many others in the jungle. She took the wheel while the others used their newfound energy to get their chores done, until Drachma later arrived to resume control of his ship.

The trip was uneventful, but the jungle always gave them something to look at. Once more Fina and Aika worked to keep the windows clear of the swirling mists as they glided effortlessly over the trees, and by the middle of the afternoon they had reached the edge of the main continent. The misty gray sea of the skies soon became a sea of deep green as the horizon line disappeared into the forest. There was no open sky around them on any side of the ship.

"I wanna land. I wanna see what's down there," Vyse said, face pressed to one of the porthole windows in the side of the cabin. "Gah! I've got the worst case of cabin fever ever! I need to explore!"

"You had every chance in the world to explore yesterday," Aika pointed out.

"Did not. I spent the entire time fixing the _Little Jack_," he replied. "And after that was the party. I never had the chance to."

"Oh...but the jungles are dangerous..." Fina clasped her hands over her chest, looking at him. "There are many fearsome creatures down there, hidden in the trees. I-I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt."

"True, but there's just as many ancient ruins, I bet." Vyse's eyes glimmered at the thought. "Little holes to crawl into, dark passageways nobody's set foot in for a thousand years...and treasures untold! That's what I live for, Fina."

"Yeah yeah." Aika grinned and nudged him playfully, then wiped at her forehead and opened the window, hanging out of it. "Whew...it's so humid here. I need some air." She paused, however, and sniffed at the air wryly, looking around the side of the ship. "Hey...I smell smoke..."

"You do?" Vyse opened his window as well, and sniffed. "Hmm...you're right. I think it's coming from the west."

"C'mere and look out the window, whelps," Drachma said.

Together, the three turned and wiped away the mist fogging up the frontal windows. What they saw made Fina cry out in horror.

Far in the distance, almost to the horizon, the entire forest was engulfed in flames. Trees toppled and crumbled beneath the angry licking tongues of the oil-induced fires, and helpless animals, attempting to flee their fate, were nearly sucked in to the ravenous mass. Black smoke plumed into the air, puffing into the sky and polluting it until it looked like the Lower City steel mills. Vyse felt a bitter rage swelling up in his chest.

"That sure as hell isn't natural!" he cried.

"They...They...How could they?" Fina was mortified.

"It's the Valuans. Has to be." Aika frowned deeply. "Anybody see a ship?"

"There! I...think that's a ship, at least." Vyse blinked, zooming in on a strange, tube like-shape in the distance. "What in the world?"

"Looks like the _Chameleon_," Drachma grunted. "Figures. Burning forests is something Admiral DeLoco would enjoy."

"DeLoco?" Aika echoed.

"Aye. Commander o'the Fifth Fleet o'the Armada and head o'the Weapons Development Department. I wager he woulda loved t'get some information about Silvite technology from Fina while she was there. Man's a bleedin' nutcase." Drachma shook his head. "Aye, but a genius."

"So...the mad scientist sort, huh?" Aika asked, blinking.

"To put it bluntly," Drachma replied, with a curt nod.

"So he's book smart, then, not street smart as Belleza was," Vyse concluded. He smirked. "That means we can take him down with ease!"

"Ain't gotta choice. He's in our way," Drachma said, nodding to the map.

"I want to make sure he can never burn any more forests, ever again!" Fina added, with such vehemence that it startled them all. She suddenly blushed and shrank away, stuttering out apologies.

Vyse took the helm as Drachma removed the panels and he and the girls prepared the cannons. Cupil was put on window-wiping duty, and he chirruped merrily to himself as he floated around the cabin, forming himself into a wedge so he could easily squeegee the mist off the windows. As they drew closer to the _Chameleon_, Vyse got a good look at it for the first time, and boggled to himself. It was bizarre.

He didn't see how it could be called a ship, or even how it floated to begin with. It was small, barely bigger than the _Little Jack_, and pill-shaped all along the hull. Sitting atop the stern was a large domelike tower, likely the bridge, from which a long periscope poked above the smoke to see what was going on. A galley in the back supported it, but it still looked overly top-heavy to him. Unlike the _Lynx_, the _Chameleon_ had no turret cannons, only fixed cannons on the sides of the ship and a strange rotating gun mounted on the front. Hanging from the bottom of the bow was a long crane-like mechanical arm, and from the large canister it clutched it poured the deadly liquid that gave fuel to the fire. The entire ship was green and blended in quite well with its surroundings.

"New class'a ship, called a U-boat," Drachma explained. "They hide in the clouds and rely on sneak attacks to defeat their enemies. Weak as all hell, if you manage to catch one before it shoots at ya."

"It's a little too late for him to hide now." Vyse smirked as the _Chameleon _turned and began to signal them in Morse code with a light. "Stop? They want us to stop? Haha...That's funny."

"Give 'im hell, boy!" Drachma said.

Grinning and feeling a rush of adrenaline, Vyse increased the _Little Jack_'s speed and went rocketing towards the _Chameleon_. It wasn't nearly as fast as the whaling vessel, and Aika landed successive hits to it before they turned and circled in for another attack. Drachma was able to make a few main cannon shots as well before the Valuans were even composed enough to fire back. A few of the secondary cannon shots landed and embedded themselves in the _Lynx_'s steel plating, but there were no breaches and eventually the cannonballs fell harmlessly off to the forest floor below. Fina launched a torpedo and squealed in delight as it blew off a propeller.

"This guy's a moron!" Aika exclaimed.

"'S'cause we caught 'im out in the open," Drachma replied. "The Ixa'Takans don't exactly pose a threat to 'em. They weren't prepared for an attack. I doubt they even have spare shells on board."

It was true. After a few more volleys, the _Chameleon _was unable to return their fire. Vyse began to grow bored. "There's no challenge in this."

Another shot, and another propeller gone. The _Chameleon_ was running under the power of a single blade now. Awkwardly, it began to turn in place, and before anyone could realize what it was doing, the crane-arm rose and pointed at them, belching forth a torrent of flames. The sails instantly lit up and were gone in seconds, and Aika and Fina rushed down to put the deck out.

In all the confusion, the _Chameleon _got away, but Vyse let it. Continuing an attack, he knew, would make him no better than a Black Pirate or the man who captained that ship. He would spare this DeLoco and meet him another day when he was prepared for battle. He watched out the back window as the U-boat retreated to the southeast, smoking and sputtering along the way.

Five minutes later, a sooty and sweaty Aika and Fina returned to the bridge. The deck and masts were unharmed, but the sails were shredded and a good majority of the rigging gone. The rest of the ship was fine, they reported. Drachma grumbled to himself and switched the ship to auxiliary power. The two girls went back below deck to freshen up.

It took them three more hours to find the tiny island upon which the giant tree sat, and most of that time was spent going in circles. Fina decided it was best for her to approach King Temahalan in the clothes that had been given to her by the Horteka priests, so she donned those instead, leaving her traditional Silvite dress to soak in the galley sink in order to get the soot out. Vyse and Aika didn't really want to change, but she insisted on it, afraid the exiled king would meet them with some hostility otherwise.

Finally, as they rounded the edge of a long, craggy mesa, upon which very few plants managed to climb, they found themselves facing a tiny island no more than sixty feet across, with an enormous tree easily over a hundred feet tall spouting from it. The tree was so huge that some of its roots poked out from the crust of the island, and its canopy, almost impossibly thick, spread way beyond its rocky base. The trunk was so thick that it considerably dwarfed the _Little Jack_, but in its vicinity they could see no signs of life. Either they had the wrong tree, or the king was very well hidden.

"In the Old World, all the trees of Ixa'Taka were this big," Fina explained, as Drachma circled the island, looking for a place to land. Seeing none, he anchored the _Little Jack_ and went downstairs to prepare a lifeboat instead. "But the moonstones, after battering the land so much, altered the soil, and the trees have never grown as big since. This tiny island likely used to be much larger, but it was blown away by the Rains."

"Incredible..." Aika murmured, transfixed to what seemed to her as the Mother of All Trees.

Drachma returned when the lifeboat was ready, and the four of them crammed in the tiny wooden vessel and sailed off to the tree. They carefully wove in-between the branches and found, to their surprise, concealed far within the canopy, a dilapidated old hut that looked like it hadn't been used in decades. The only thing likely keeping it all together in the first place was the tree's strong limbs and sheltering leaves.

Vyse skillfully pulled the lifeboat up to a porch-balcony in the front of the hut and moored it there, setting it to hover. Drachma got out first, in order to help everyone else onto the deck, and the wood creaked beneath even Fina's weight as they moved.

Carefully, Vyse peeked through the dark green curtain covering the doorway into the hut, but it was dark inside. There was very little within it, just a few old clay jars, tattered tapestries, and a large wicker chair covered in plush cushions against the far wall. The wind howled softly through the cracks in the boards and the thatching, and there were plenty of holes in the roof to add to the dead atmosphere.

"I don't get it," he announced. "This has to be the place."

"Vyse, look!" Aika ran over to a torch on the wall, which had been covered over. In the darkness, he hadn't even noticed it. She removed the heavy cloth from atop it and the room lit up with the light of a green moonstone. "Somebody just recently covered these."

"There's fresh food in these jars, too," Drachma noted, pilfering through the scant pottery around them. "They musta seen us comin' and hid."

"Hello?" Fina called in the formal Ixa'Takan tongue. "Is anybody here? We seek the audience of King Temahalan."

A silence ensued, and her three companions stopped momentarily to listen. "Who asks?" a voice responded, at last, in the same language.

Fina winced. She didn't want to say it. She couldn't. But she had to. "Queyta."

Something bumped and crashed against the back wall of the hut. A moment later a priest appeared from behind a tapestry, face hidden behind a mask. When he beheld the group, though they couldn't see his expression, it was obvious he stared.

"Sakamo. Out of the doorway." A young and powerful voice demanded. The priest disappeared back behind the tapestry and a moment later another figure appeared, this one barely older than Vyse was. Like any Ixa'takan, he had heavily tanned skin and prominent, rounded features, complete with a wild and silky blue hair. But this man, with his regal bearing, was fairly well built and wore no mask, allowing his vibrant and piercing brown eyes to show. He was strong-featured and carried himself with dignity, and was clothed in a purple and white robe that seemed far too simple for his means. Nothing adorned him save for a very simple wooden headdress stained in red.

His eyes studied the group for a while, scanning them over, one by one. Repeatedly they returned to Fina, but he made no effort to bow. "The Hortekan High Priest told me Queyta had arrived in a green ship, but the only green ship we knew of was the fire-breathing one destroying our forests. I saw you defeat the fire-breathing ship, but my priests insisted I hide because your vessel was coming towards us. They wanted to be safe."

Fina nodded, slowly. "Yes...the man in that ship was a very cruel man. We will make sure no more harm comes to the forests."

"Even so." The young man shook his head, then slid into the wicker seat, gesturing for the two priests accompanying him to uncover the torches. They did so, and the room was filled with a green light once more. "I know you are not Queyta. Queyta's ship is a silver vessel without sails."

_My ship. A Silvite ship!_ Fina realized. She didn't say anything, however, and smiled instead at the young man who was so obviously King Temahalan. "You don't know how it relieves me to hear that. The people of Horteka were so convinced that I was Queyta, and their worshiping of me made me so...so...uncomfortable. I couldn't bear it. I wanted to talk to them, but every time I tried they would cower away in fear."

Temahalan nodded, though there was a spark of charm in his deep brown eyes. "Very few in my lands have seen an actual Man From the East. They wear armor that covers their whole body and no one can see their faces. But I have seen their leaders, and they are different from us. They are pale, with earthen-colored hair and eyes, and skinny like twigs. They look like your companions." He paused, giving her a second look. "Although...your resemblance to the pictures of Queyta are...astounding..."

Fina blushed a little, then bowed slightly to him. "King Temahalan, do you know why the Valuans -- the people whom you call the Men From the East -- are here?"

"They want our moonstones and our gold, of course," Temahalan replied, shaking his head. "And they force our people into finding it for them. We cannot fight back. Their weapons are enchanted, and their ships are invincible...or so we thought." He looked out the window, in the direction the _Chameleon_ had disappeared in.

Now it was Fina's turn to shake her head. "Initially, yes, that was what they wanted. But now they want something more." She walked out onto the porch to peer out from it, and to her surprise, Temahalan followed. He stood beside her, as if he were with an equal. Was he just like Enrique? "Look at all the forest he has burned on the continent." She indicated them with a sweep of her arm. "The Man From the East who burned it is clearing away the forest so he can find the Lost City, Rixis, within. He knows the Green Moon Crystal is hidden there, and he seeks its power so he can awaken the Giant of the Forest for evil means."

"The Green Moon Crystal? You mean the Sacred Green Stone?" Temahalan fell into a contemplative silence. It looked like something had just donned on him, and his eyes were a little wide. For a long time, he stood there staring at the forests, a thousand thoughts obviously reeling throughout his head. Fina wished she knew what he was thinking. "...Rixis is lost. It has been for countless generations. Nobody can find Rixis."

"You mean...even you don't know where it is?" Fina stared at him, feeling her heart sink.

"Mm." Temahalan bit his lower lip in thought. "Personally, I do not. It never was of any importance to my people because we are a bit distant from our past. The only one in the entire kingdom who likely knows is my High Priest, Isapa. His knowledge of the history of these lands is supreme."

"Where is he?" Fina asked. "Might we meet him?"

Temahalan sighed, shaking his head. "He isn't here. The Men From the East captured him and took him to Sacred Mountain to dig in the earth for their moonstones."

Fina hesitated, then called Vyse out onto the balcony. When he appeared, she translated their entire conversation for him.

"Sacred Mountain? That's where all their mines are?"

"Apparently..." she replied.

"Hmm. Well. I think our next course of action is pretty clear." He smirked. "We're gonna break into those mines and save Isapa!"

"Really? Can we?" Fina beamed and looked up at him hopefully.

Vyse only laughed. "Of course! We'll set sail as soon as you're done talking with the King. Let me know how everything else goes." And with that, he went back inside.

Fina sighed in extreme relief, looking up at Temahalan with a smile. His reaction was strange, but she couldn't place what his emotions were. "King Temahalan, we will go save Isapa."

"You would do that? You would risk your life for him?" Temahalan looked surprised.

Fina smiled. "It is what my friends and I do. We have always resisted the Men From the East."

A smile quickly spread across the king's rugged and handsome features. He took her hands in his, kissing them. "I do not know which is greater: your beauty or your valor. Now I see why you were so easily mistaken for Queyta."

* * *

Admiral Carlos DeLoco was a creative bad-mouth when he wanted to be. His idea of swearing was far too intellectual for the common soldier, and Alfonso watched him with bored disdain as he grumbled to himself, furiously scribbling out plans in ink on his desk. His oxygen tank beeped at him warningly and he sat back, forcing himself to calm down.

"Your head will explode," the young admiral remarked, sardonically.

"Shut up!" DeLoco snapped, tossing the nearest thing at him. It just happened to be a paperweight, and as Alfonso easily ducked aside with a fencer's grace, the heavy block went sailing out the window and into the yard below, whereupon it hit an unfortunate slave and knocked him out cold. His wide miss made him fume again.

From birth, DeLoco had been a shriveled, crippled figure. At full maturity he barely reached three feet, six inches tall, and he was nearly blind. His worst ailment had been his faulty lungs, which made breathing for him difficult, and had, at one point in time, severely retarded his speech. But what the tiny mop-headed purple-haired man lacked in physical prowess he made up for in sheer genius. Nearly all of the technological advances Valua had made in the past decade were by his design.

He worked selflessly for the empire, gathering data and striving to create better weapons of mass destruction, but he had also developed for himself gadgets to help with his disabilities. His cold black eyes were hidden behind a thick pair of purple wrap-around goggles that enabled him to see, and his head was encased in a glass helmet that connected to an oxygen filter at his chest. It purified the air and pumped it in to him, making it easier for him to breathe, so that all he ever had to worry about was the occasional asthma attack. His admiral's uniform was a heavy green coat with long tails, under which he wore a wide pair of black leggings tucked into green boots curled at the toes. The tiny green ensemble was decorated in so many metals that Admiral Belleza had remarked on several occasions that he looked like a Holiday tree.

Alfonso was still amused. He jeered at the older man as he paced around the office, laughing in a decidedly haughty manner. "And you say _I_ was in way over my head," he huffed. "Fighting Air Pirates is a little more difficult than burning trees, isn't it, Carlos?"

"They barely escaped my flame cannon, what are you talking about?" DeLoco quipped.

"Mmmhmm." Alfonso, stupid as he tended to be, nevertheless didn't buy it. "That would explain the mint condition of the _Chameleon_, I suppose?"

DeLoco clenched his teeth at that, grasping his pen so hard that it snapped in his gloved hands. "That Vyse...that rotten Vyse...how dare he scratch my BABY! Oooh, he'll pay, Alfonso, that he will. I'll get him good. Nobody harms my machinery."

"And just how do you plan to do that?" Alfonso smirked, folding his arms across his chest. "They tore the _Lynx_ in half. How can you best a harpoon cannon?"

"With something BIGGER!" DeLoco laughed, springing up out of his chair...and disappearing behind his desk. He jabbed a finger up in the air triumphantly. "I've gathered plenty of data from Belleza's analysis of the red Gigas, and have been using it to create what is no doubt the ultimate weapon. The prototype is nearly complete, heeheehee. Come! Come see it! It's fantastic!"

"I'd rather not, seeing as how I don't _care_..." Alfonso replied, rolling his eyes, but came along anyway.

DeLoco traipsed away out of the office and into a steel-lined hallway that cut deeper into the mountain. Here he nimbly slithered around various twists and turns in the corridor that he had easily memorized, until he at last arrived where their two flagships, the elegant _Cygnus_ and the badly damaged _Chameleon_, were docked. Repairs on the latter were being made quickly, and the little man screeched to his underlings to pick up the pace before heading down into the repair bay. Here he unlocked a small shed and led Alfonso inside, to where a large cannon was nearly completely assembled. It looked nothing like the gunpowder and electricity-powered ones he had previously created, and actually resembled a ship's engine more than anything else. It was a complicated and heavy piece of machinery that had cost him a fortune to make, but it would be well worth it, he knew.

"What is this supposed to be?" Alfonso demanded.

"It's my prototype moonstone cannon," DeLoco announced, proudly rocking from his toes to his heels. "When complete, it will be as powerful as a single Gigas. It runs solely on moonstone energy and amplifies it into one gigantic blast. It'll have enough force to put a hole in the Grand Fortress, I estimate! Heeheeheeheehee!"

Alfonso only snorted. "You are a delusional fool. That's not possible and you know it. What a waste of precious money."

"You'll be changing your tune when I use it to vaporize Vyse," DeLoco countered, waggling a finger up in his face and falling miserably short. "There is nothing that can stop this weapon, just wait and see! I'll be installing it as soon as repairs on my beloved _Chameleon_ are complete."

"I'd like to see it." Alfonso smirked, then left with a haughty flick of his cape.

"Witless imbecile..." DeLoco murmured sourly after him. In a huff, he turned and stomped back to his office, making sure to screech at his subordinates once more on his way out.

When he had returned to his office, he climbed up onto a stool, then his chair, and finally the stack of books set atop it to prop him up. He returned to his paperwork and began to sketch out new ideas for possible other uses of moonstones in weapons, but his mind began to wander and soon he found himself doodling pictures of random objects and animals. Why did he have to be assigned Ixa'Taka? It had plenty of raw materials, true, but it was inconveniently too far out of the way for him to be able to conduct proper research.

"Put this place under Vigoro's control..." he grumbled. "It's so dull here that even _he_ can't screw something up."

Smirking to himself, he drew the third admiral getting kicked in the rear by an angry native on the corner of his paper. Moons, how he hated Vigoro!

He wasn't sure how much time had passed by the time the alarms in the office suddenly went off, jolting him out of his daydreams. He had rigged the mines all over the place with triggers, traps and alarms to ensure not a single slave escaped, and as far as he was concerned, it was foolproof. Checking a panel of lights to see which sector in the mine had been intruded upon, he noticed the alarm had been set off right in the yard in front of him. Blinking, he waddled over to the broken window and peered out of it, realizing that the gates to the mine had been busted open and the slaves working in the yard were gone. The guards were all out cold, some bleeding. A flicker of blue passed below him, and he looked down in time to see a group of four, a young man, a young woman, an ancient giant, and the Silvite pass by.

"Ah! He's here! He's here!" DeLoco cackled. "You saved me the trouble of looking for you, Vyse! You'll never make it out of these mines alive!" Squealing in demented glee, he pulled a lever to seal the door shut behind them as they walked into the mines and then ran off down the hall. He couldn't wait to see which trap would spell their doom.

* * *

Aika sprang into Vyse's arms as the door abruptly snapped closed behind them. Try as he may, Drachma was unable to open it back up with the strength of his mechanical arm, and they realized rather quickly that they were stuck. A chill ran down the rogue's back, and he looked around himself, trying to find anything that might have triggered it. He glanced around at his companions, but it was clear Fina was thinking the same thing he was.

"Somebody's watching us..." she whispered, clutching her hands uneasily over her chest.

"Who?" Aika asked, still clinging to her best friend. With an exasperated sigh, he dropped her.

"Bah! Let 'em watch us," Drachma grumbled, beginning to continue down the tunnel they had just entered. "They can watch as we destroy the whole damn place."

Vyse nodded and followed, but the girls stuck close beside him.

The tunnel was long and dank, full of the heavy mists that perpetually hung in the air. It was rather smoothly cut and showed the wear of being fairly well traveled, but for now it was empty and deserted, scant lighting provided only by a few moonstone lanterns set at irregular intervals. The dank scent of moist earth hung in the air, and far in the distance he could hear the distinct clanging of heavy machinery.

Eventually the tunnel ended into a wide cavern that branched off in several directions. The largest and most obvious entrances were sealed off by heavy metal shutters, and running quickly down the middle on poorly constructed rails were mine carts full of dirt and moonstones. A few Ixa'Takan slaves, severely malnourished, heavily beaten, and fearfully emaciated, trudged throughout the rocky enclosure bare-footed, despairingly going about their work.

The sight was too much for Silvite eyes. Tears began to stream down Fina's face as she cried out and dashed for the slaves, but Vyse gently restrained her, holding her against him.

"Fina! Fina. There's nothing we can do," he said. "We can't help them, not right now. We'll have the chance to later, I promise."

"There's children!" she cried, struggling feebly against him.

"I know, Fina..." He bowed his head. "I know."

The slaves noticed all the commotion and, seeing Fina standing there in her Silvite robes, trembled and dropped to their knees. She broke free from Vyse and dashed over to them on her tiny feet, healing their wounds with magic and speaking to them in soft and worried tones. Their exchanges were emotional and Vyse felt a lump develop in his throat as he watched them. A furious rage burned in his chest; these were people, not animals!

With a renewed sense of hope, the slaves went back to their work, and Fina gestured for her companions to follow her as she went up into one of the higher tunnels in the cavern.

"They gave me some directions and warned me about the special tiles in the floor," she said. "Don't step on anything that has a circle on it."

"Easier said than done..." Aika remarked as they turned a corner and found a whole group of metallic tiles in their path. Each were marked with X's and O's.

Carefully, the four wove their way across the tiles, hopping from one X to the next, which gave Drachma great difficulty. As he snarled about how childish it was, and that hopscotch was for Lower City children, Cupil decided to test one of the O tiles and found that, upon the slightest touch from his tail, it collapsed under him. They were trap doors leading into a black abyss below. Vyse decided he didn't want to know where it went.

They followed the tunnel until it opened up into an even bigger room, this one suspended above a deep chasm below. The steam hissing up from it and clattering of machines told Vyse they were simply above a mining shaft, though from where they stood it had the appearance of a bottomless pit. The room, obviously only intended for Valuan soldiers to move through, only branched off in two directions. The first was a large tunnel that delved deeper into the mountain, while the second rounded a corner and lead to a crude elevator that seemed to be out of service. Vyse could barely see through the holes in the girded floor that there was a track with more mine carts running along it below them.

In the darkness he hadn't noticed it at first, but suddenly he realized that there were six or so soldiers coming out of the large tunnel right in front of them, followed by two digging machines that lit the way. They weren't heavily armed and wore rather old armor, but the platform they navigated was small and he knew it would be easy for any of them, except for perhaps Drachma, to get pushed off into the chasm below.

He reacted quickly. Before the guards could notice him and draw their weapons, Vyse brandished his cutlasses and ran for them, with Aika and Drachma right behind. Drachma ended up taking the lead and plowed through the group, catching the two leading soldiers off guard and sending them toppling over the edge. A skillfully tossed boomerang put the lights out, and Cupil was able to expand his size and bump both the machines off the ledge as well. Vyse took on two soldiers on his own, able to surprise them and knock them out. Drachma took a more brutal approach and tossed his adversaries over the edge, following suit with the unconscious forms of Vyse's opponents.

"You fight like a Black Pirate," he chided.

The old man didn't reply.

Together, they went through the area the soldiers had come through and found themselves in a shaft that seemed to wind down forever and branch off in every direction imaginable. Light came out of some tunnels and others were pitch black, and Vyse didn't know which way he should go. Zooming in on the tunnels to see where they went didn't help him any, for it was simply too dark.

"Well...any suggestions?" he asked, finally.

"Maybe we should go through one of the lighted tunnels," Aika said.

"Or perhaps towards the sounds of the machinery," Fina offered.

"Down," Drachma grunted. "If it's important, they'll be keepin' it deep in the mines."

"Should we just go down as far as we can, then?" Vyse asked. "See how deep this tunnel goes?"

"M-maybe we should find some more slaves and ask them..." Fina said.

"Let's just go somewhere. I'm tired of sitting still," Aika said, fidgeting. Abruptly she turned and picked a tunnel at random, heading down one of the lighted ones. Vyse sighed and followed.

Vyse was surprised when the tunnel abruptly ended and brought them into the largest cavern yet. It was obviously the main shaft, dozens of feet wide and hundreds of feet deep, with various tracks running along the wall to carry equipment up and down from the top of the mountain to the core of the island. Slaves were continuously ferried along the rough-cut walls; those who came up always looked ten times worse than those who went down. Some even collapsed from being over-worked, while others were simply dead. Vyse tried to distract Fina from the sight, but she began to cry again.

Aika was the one who was most distracted. She was so shocked, so upset over the treatment of the slaves and Fina's reaction to it that she wasn't watching where she was going and stepped on a tile marked with an O. Immediately it collapsed beneath her feet and she fell through with a startled shriek, and Vyse dove after her without hesitation, into the dark below. Fina screamed and cried out his name, but he heard Drachma hold her back.

Aika's fall was fast and straight. She didn't fall very far, though, before she landed in a mine cart, immediately dislodging its breaks. With a high-pitched screeching, it began to careen away at nosebleed speed and went vanishing into a tunnel with her screaming. Vyse clenched his teeth and grabbed for the rail, but missed it and fell even farther. Quickly he drew his cutlass and lashed out at the nearest thing to him, which happened to be a series of thin pipes in the wall. It caught and he dangled there, suspended above the chasm by one arm.

"AIKA!" he called. There came no response.

"Vyse! Vyse!" Fina's voice was faint and barely managed to carry in the cavern, echoing off the steel-lined walls of the shaft. "Are you okay? I'm sending Cupil down to get you!"

"I'm fine!" he called, shifting so he could grab the pipes with his other hand. He climbed up on top of them and sat down, sheathing his cutlass against his back. "Keep Cupil with you, Fina. If he can just help me glide to that other ledge over there, I'll find my way back up."

"I don't see anything..." she called.

"It's...not too far off. I'm pretty sure Cupil can make it."

Out of the darkness, he saw Cupil's pudgy form float over to him. The Apis chirruped and nudged against his cheek, then began to puff himself up with air until he was sufficiently bloated. He offered Vyse his tail and with some hesitation the rogue held on, worried he would hurt the strange creature. Cupil proved elastic and durable, however, and like a giant balloon, floated Vyse safely over to the other side.

"Go back to Fina and give her this," he told Cupil, pulling the handkerchief she had given him out of his pocket and handing it to the Apis. "Let her know I'll be wanting it back." He grinned. Whether or not Cupil understood was another thing, but he seemed receptive to human speech. Sure enough, he squeaked and floated off, and Vyse watched him vanish before hopping on the next slave cart he saw heading down. "Heya, guys!" he called to the confused natives as he landed amidst them.

* * *

Aika held on for dear life as her cart went flying out of control down the twisting track. She flew past dangerous-looking machinery and through caverns so low that she had to curl up inside to avoid having her head lobbed off by the jagged roof. Some caverns she rocketed across were flooded, the track suspended a mere hair's width above the water. Others were large and full of glittering green moonstones that had crystallized over the years. The slaves didn't even bother to acknowledge her as she flew past their work areas, as if it were a common thing for humans to be trapped in runaway mine carts, but she certainly did snare the attention of quite a few Valuan guards.

Before long, there came a dull red glow at the end of the cavern, and Aika had a bad feeling in her gut that that meant a painful dead-end -- quite literally. Deciding it was time to jump out, no matter how fast she was going, she crouched down low in her cart and waited for it to sail past one of the slaves' workstations before leaping off the edge and into a loose pile of dirt that barely managed to break her fall. She shot through it and skidded across the ground, feeling the rocky floor grind the skin off her bare legs until she was gently stopped by something. Looking up, she found herself in the company of a young Ixa'Takan man who, judging by his healthy state, must have been recently brought into the mines.

She thanked him, but of course he didn't understand, and there was immense confusion in his eyes. By that time, however, the Valuan guards had caught up with her, and were ready to attack. Disregarding the sting of her broken skin, she drew her boomerang and gave it a hefty toss. The guards, who only wore hard hats, were felled in one swoop and the slaves needed a few moments to comprehend what had just happened. A second small wave came and caught her off guard, and she had to resort to well-aimed kicks to their unprotected faces to get rid of them. The slaves cheered as she disappeared up the ramp the guards had used and threw the soldiers onto the tracks.

It was a long, dark tunnel she was trapped in, and her nose stung with the sulfurous fumes the slaves were digging up. Some rubble fell in her wake as she ran along and suddenly it occurred to her that any of the tunnels could collapse, as far down as she was. It wasn't a particularly comforting thought.

All she knew was that she needed to head up, and when Aika came to a little fork in the tunnels, she chose the one that rose at an incline and groaned when it opened into a flooded cavern with rail tracks passing over it.

_Well...perhaps following the tracks isn't such a bad idea..._ she mused. _They all head upwards and have to end up in a central location _somewhere_. As long as nothing comes down at me, I should be okay. It'll keep me away from the soldiers, too._

It was a conflict of fear and practicality. She couldn't swim, making those tracks so near yet so far at the same time. It scared her to death to think of what might happen if she missed her jump, but what choice did she really have? She could hear more soldiers coming up the tunnel and knew she'd eventually run into more than she could handle. Vyse had tried to save her, but she knew he wasn't stupid and wouldn't have come down this far. She had to stop relying on his protection and become truly independent, even though he had insisted time and again that she could hold her own.

Swallowing thickly and praying to the moons to guide her, she got a running start and then sprung with all her might off the ledge she stood upon towards the tracks far to her left. She sailed low over the water and her bleeding legs hit the surface, dragging her down and completely killing her momentum. She cried out, but luckily she was close enough that she was able to grasp one of the rails. It was almost wild instinct she felt, a panic that drove her to scramble onto the tracks and away from the evil, evil water. She wasn't going to wait. Giving herself no time to recover, she skittered to her feet and ran off, her boots pounding against the damp planks of the railroad ties. Soon she had vanished into the darkness and the soldiers who arrived could no longer see her.

It was that darkness that severely disabled her progress. Eventually she had to get down on her knees and feel her way along the tracks, but they were already scraped up and the splinters she got became too much to bear. She felt around for her pack and realized that it must have come off while she fell through the trap; it was likely at the bottom of the main shaft now. So much for her healing crystals. Wishing Fina was around, and knowing her own healing magic wasn't exactly up to par, she instead focused her energy on her red moonstone charm and channeled the power of fire into the palm of her gloved hand. A ball of pinkish-red light soon flared up in it, filling the narrow tunnel she was in with scant illumination. It wasn't much, but at least she could see.

The tunnel got narrower and narrower until it was so low that only a mine cart could slide through. Aika was forced to return to her knees and crawl along, and the trip seemed to last forever, especially as the incline of the tracks grew steeper. Before long she was out of breath and her knees were completely raw; she cursed her luck.

Finally, she decided that she needed to rest. As the tunnel gradually began to widen out once more, she slid off the tracks and onto a rocky outcropping jutting out from the wall, sitting on it with a low groan. No sooner had she settled down, however, when she heard an all-too-familiar clanking and a moment later a mine cart shot right over the spot she had been crawling along. Her dark eyes widened slightly; perhaps her luck wasn't too bad after all.

For a long while, Aika didn't move. She hurt, and she wanted to see if other mine carts were coming, but it was dead silent. It was the light of electric lanterns coming up the opposite end of the tunnel that made her run again.

Finally she emerged in a shaft, not the main one she had fallen into, but a large one nevertheless. Looking around, she saw some of the bucket-like digging equipment heading up along the wall and didn't think twice before hopping into the nearest one on its way up, landing in a hard, cold pile of dirt. It went up for a long ways, and eventually she could see light at the top of the tunnel, but that worried her. There would be plenty of Valuans at the top, most likely. Deciding against finishing her ride, she made a leap of faith onto a rail of pipes along the wall and slid down them into an elevator shaft.

The elevator wasn't receiving any power that she could see, so breaking into it would have been useless. Spitting into her bare hand and putting out the fire in her gloved one, she began to scale the cable connecting the elevator to its pulley, bracing her legs against the narrow shaft. Eventually she came to an air duct and kicked in its vent, sliding her way inside.

That proved to be unwise. The air duct was even more confusing than the mines themselves had been, and she was forced to drag herself along on her stomach because they were so narrow. She didn't know what to do or where to go, and relied only on what little directional sense she had told her. Occasionally she would come to another vent and would peer down into it at the room below, but none of them looked promising. She needed a broad area to make her escape in, in case she needed to fight.

After a long while, the duct began to widen out a bit and she could crawl along or crouch in corners instead. Finally she came to a massive room that had been smoothly cut and plated over with steel, made to house a small fleet of Armada vessels, including two she distinctly recognized: Admiral Alfonso's, the one they had raided and released, and the _Chameleon_, which was swiftly being repaired and looked as though it had taken no damage from the _Little Jack_ at all.

She crawled into a corner of the room, as far from the _Chameleon_ as possible, and then kicked out the vent beneath her. The clattering it made as it hit the floor was completely lost in the din of the operations being performed on the U-boat, leaving her free to drop down without notice, hopping her way down a series of crates, barrels and heavy machinery. When she hit the ground, she stuck close to the wall and crept along it, staying concealed behind the bulk of the ships and the cargo stowed around them. Though her bright clothes, fiery hair, and torn-up legs would have easily given her away to anyone watching, most everyone was distracted with their duty and her lithe, skinny form kept her well-hidden.

The first door she came to was rather hidden behind a couple of cranes and didn't look overly important, so she decided to see what was inside. Giving the rusted knob a turn, she opened it a crack and found that it was only an oil storage room on the other side. To her shock, however, there was a man sitting in there, an older man with thinning hair and round little glasses, clothed in a dirty white jumper with a tool belt still fastened around his waist. He looked like he hadn't eaten in a while. This was no Valuan!

"I already told you, I'm not going to build it..." he murmured in Valuan, not even bothering to look at her.

"That's okay, I wasn't going to ask you to build anything," she replied in Meridian. With a jolt, he looked up at her, and she smiled. "Heya."

"Quick! Come inside, but don't let the door close all the way. It's locked from this side," he said, eyes wide.

Aika nodded and jammed the latch with one of her hair ribbons, so the door wouldn't close completely. "You're Centime, aren't you?" she guessed.

The old man looked completely blown away. "I thought you looked like an Air Pirate, but...how did you know?"

Aika grinned. "Kinda a combination of a lucky guess and putting two and two together. I'm Aika, of the Blue Storm."

"The Blue Storm, eh? Well, I won't ask how you got here, but it's good to see a friendly face." He stood, dusting himself off, not that it really helped any. "Are you trying to escape? I think I can help you."

"I was never captured to begin with. I broke in here with a couple of my friends!" Aika laughed, then drooped a little. "But I got separated from them. I stepped on this tile and got thrown into a mine cart and..."

"Mmm." Centime nodded, his friendly smile causing wrinkles to bunch up around his kind, sparkling blue eyes. "Say no more. There are a plethora of tricks and traps in these mines that are designed to keep the slaves from running away, but they'll pose a great danger to your friends. They're all backed by DeLoco's mechanical genius." He chuckled, pulling out a wrench from his tool belt. "Luckily, you've got another mechanical genius with you. Aika, let's go disarm everything before it can hurt your friends, then we'll see about getting out of here."

* * *

"Another dead end," Fina said, quietly. She was beginning to lose heart. "Can't we ask for directions now, Captain?"

"Real sailors don't ask for directions," Drachma grunted, his irritability all too apparent in his voice. "We'll just take a different path."

"But...there's so many. If we just guess, we may never find our way out of here..." Fearfully, she clutched her hands over her chest. "It's so dark, and...and we still haven't found Vyse..."

"Boy can take care o'imself," Drachma grunted, turning and heading back the way they came. We ain't got nothin' to worry 'bout 'cept our own hides."

Once more, he took the lead and they went back out into the main shaft. All they had been doing was slowly ascending it, but now they could go no farther because the tunnels were all dead ends, unfinished, collapsed, or flooded. Drachma's impatience was growing and it started to intimidate Fina, until something finally caught her eye. Turning, she peered down one of the tunnels they had previously explored and saw some flickering lights.

"Captain! The elevator is working!"

"What? How's that possible?"

"I'm not sure, but why don't we try it?" she smiled, beckoning for him to follow.

"Hope it ain't another one o'them traps..." he mumbled, though she could tell he was getting desperate.

The elevator was too advanced for Drachma and too primitive for Fina, and it took them a while to at last figure out how it worked. Finally she got it going and it lifted them upwards, to a set of caverns that were all smoothly cut and well traveled by the Valuan soldiers. Some who had been waiting for the elevator were shocked to see them when the gates opened, but Drachma quickly took them out before they could make any noise.

They rounded a corner and came to a whole new set of platforms winding their way up the side of the main shaft. Together they followed them and came to a room where some digging machines were stored and the doors were locked. Drachma began to get exasperated.

"Girl, can yer...thing...shape 'imself into a screwdriver?" he asked.

"What's a screwdriver?"

He sighed and proceeded to explain it to her. Luckily Cupil had seen one on board the _Little Jack_ and knew what he was talking about, obligingly taking the shape described.

Drachma directed Cupil to unscrew the drill bits off one of the digging machines and then did the same to the hand of his mechanical arm. After a bit of rewiring and a lot of swear words, however, he had fitted the bit to the rest of his arm and now was a walking weapon. Fina was impressed by his intuitiveness, and even more impressed that he could get the drill to work. She offered to carry his hand for him, but he only tucked it under one arm and continued.

It was obvious the lobby they were in was a group of offices, as there was a map sitting beside the middle door outlining the main tunnels and caverns for the guards to use. Drachma noticed there was a detaining room for the slaves and didn't even have to tell Fina where to go. Turning, he faced the rightmost door, activated his new 'hand', and drilled right through the metal.

Vyse was on the other side with a wire in his teeth, poised in preparation to pick the lock.

"Vyse!" Fina cried, happily. "You're okay!"

"Heh. 'Course I am." Grinning, the rogue stood and tucked the wire away into his tunic, eying Drachma. "If you'd gone any lower, I'd have a big hole in me right now."

"Hmph. Bad timin' on yer part, boy."

"What's with the gadget?" he asked.

"S'called improvisin'," Drachma replied. "Now we make our own paths, we don't follow what the Valuans give us. C'mon, there's a detainin' room down in the middle o'the mines. If this Isa-whatsis guy's as important to the King as he's made out to be, 'e'll likely be in there."

Vyse nodded and let Drachma take the lead.

Drachma lumbered down the hallway until they came to another elevator. This time he directed Fina to make it go down, and she did so, lowering them to the seventh level of the mine. Here they got out and Drachma walked about halfway down the cavern before he turned and faced the wall. Abruptly he turned the drill on again and bored right through it, into a broad, expansive cave on the other side.

The dome-shaped cavern was full of an ethereal emerald light that filled nearly every crack of the room. Drachma hadn't just taken a shortcut; he'd found the mother vein of green moonstone! Vyse and Fina gasped together in awe, gazing at the thick vine-like lines of the vein as it twisted around the cavern like an enormous crystal serpent. Laying around the floor were massive hunks of the raw stone that still hadn't fully crystallized, balls and shards that were twice Drachma's size at the least. Fina's eyes widened as she realized they were no doubt leftover from the Rains of Destruction, but didn't say anything. As far as moonstones went, that was gargantuan.

It took them a long time to navigate the cavern, having to pick their way over the jagged floor and around the massive green rocks. Vyse began to wander off to climb and explore, as excited as a little kid, but one bark from Drachma had him back in line again, following along. Eventually they reached the other wall and Drachma drilled his way through it, to another hall with an elevator within. More guards were there.

Drachma's arm was clumsy now that it had the drill attached to it, though it instilled a wide amount of fear in the guards. They were momentarily rooted to the spot, giving Vyse time to draw his cutlasses long before they could arm themselves. A few quick slashes crumpled them to the ground and they were taking the elevator down again.

"How many shortcuts do you _know_?" Vyse asked Drachma with a grin.

"Zip. I'm makin' my own based off that map," he replied. "Woulda taken us two hours to go the long way. Fools didn't even know the vein was there." He snorted.

The elevator settled and they stepped out, into a large area that was very resemblant of a prison. There were plenty of guards in the room, pacing about the cells that, instead of being barred, were closed off with shutters like solitary confinement cells. Startled to see unfamiliar faces about, they charged, but Drachma easily held them off by simply revving up the drill again.

"Who wants a new hole in 'em?" he challenged, brandishing the whirling bit with a dangerous look in his eye. The soldiers stepped back shakily. "Now you'll do as we say or they'll be able t'toss cannonballs right through yer middle when we're through with ya!"

"What do you want?" the captain of the guard asked in a shaky voice.

"Release the prisoners!" Vyse demanded. "All of them. Unlock all of these cells and let the slaves out."

When nobody moved, Drachma yelled, "NOW!" so loudly that it made Vyse and Fina jump in unison. The soldiers scrambled to comply.

Every cell in the room was emptied, and Fina was disgusted to find that the little rooms had all be crammed with more than their capacity was meant to hold. Filthy, disease-ridden slaves wearily stumbled out, and she ran to heal them all, hesitating only when she came to a large, portly old man with a frayed purple beard and an intricate tattoo patterned onto his bald head. He wore a robe that looked almost exactly like the one King Temahalan was wrapped up in. As Drachma and Vyse went to work locking the Valuan guards inside the cells, she spoke to him.

"Are you Isapa?" she asked, in Ixa'Takan.

"That I am." He chuckled, which caused his rounded belly to bounce slightly. "Are you a Priestess of Queyta? Your resemblance is uncanny."

"N-no, I'm a..." Well, she had been a priestess, but what was she now? "I'm a Blue Rogue, an Air Pirate. We came here to rescue you for King Temahalan."

"Ah! Air Pirates." He had trouble pronouncing the word, because there was no Ixa'Takan equivalent of it. "I have heard the Men From the East grumbling about them, oh yes indeed."

Fina blinked.

Isapa continued, merrily. "Ah, the King knows what I like, sending a beautiful woman to rescue me. In all my years, I have never seen one as pretty as you! I will have to reward you personally..."

"Vyse! Let's hurry up and go...!" she cried, skittering away to the rogue.

With fifty-six slaves and Isapa in tow, Vyse took the lead and began to rush out of the mines. The elevator had somehow locked itself, which Fina didn't like at all, but Drachma said there was an elevator to the surface just past the detaining rooms.

It took a while to get all of the slaves up an elevator that only held a maximum of four people, and Fina was beginning to grow more anxious by the minute. She said she sensed a negative energy in the area, something with malice directed towards Vyse. She said somebody had been watching Vyse the entire time.

The elevator they had just used locked as soon as the last slave stepped out.

They were forced to push forward. Drachma couldn't drill through the elevator doors because he would put it out of service, and he hadn't studied the map enough to know a way around their current path. Finally they came to a large door that was sitting wide open, as if waiting for them. It opened into an expansive room with absolutely nothing in it save for a door on the opposite side and a very bloodstained floor. Fina gasped as she noticed a massive row of spikes hanging from the roof.

Isapa said something to her. She translated.

"All the slaves who have tried to run have died in this room," she said.

"What'sa matter? Too afraid?" a high-pitched voice challenged from within. "Are you afraid to die, Vyse? Afraid to screeeeam?"

"Who's there?" he called.

"You'll have to come and see, heeheeheehee!" came the response.

Vyse growled.

Suddenly a figure appeared in the doorway on the other end of the room. It was Alfonso. He stepped through and into the center of the floor, looking smug. "Long time no see, Vyse. It is I, Alfonso. I've come with a challenge."

"Alfonso, you idiot!" the first voice screeched. "If you're in there, I won't be able to crush them!"

"How _dare_ you!" Alfonso quipped. "I'm going to tell Auntie Teodora what you called me! She'll have you court marshaled!"

"Try it! Just try it, you intellectual weakling! You Upper City swine! You are the chewing gum on the bottom of my boot!"

"What's going on?" Fina murmured. "They're arguing like children..."

"Oh well. Now's our chance." Shrugging, Vyse boldly stepped out into the room, and the others followed.

Unfortunately, the argument didn't last long. Alfonso ordered them to stop, and they brushed past him, nonchalantly. The second person wasn't so forgiving however. It was a little man in green standing in a control center in the upper right hand side of the room, his head encased in a glass dome. His hand was on a large lever.

"I'll just skewer you all!" he seethed.

He threw the lever down. The roof jolted, then began to descend. Fearing for their lives, the slaves scrambled for the other door, trampling Alfonso in the process, but mere seconds later the roof came to a grinding halt, much to the little man's disgruntlement. "What? What?! WHAAAT? Why'd it stop? None of my traps have failed me before!"

"Admiral DeLoco!" another voice said from somewhere in the little control room. "Somebody has tampered with all of the machinery in the mines. They've gone haywire!"

The admiral broke down and began to throw a temper tantrum. Shaking his head, Vyse led his group of slaves out through the other door and left.

To his surprise, when he rounded the corner, Vyse found Aika waiting there for him with a man in white who introduced himself as Centime. She explained that they had disabled all of the traps and the machinery, as well as activated the elevators for them; the former they hoped would put the mines out of commission.

"We didn't have enough time to tamper with the flagships," Centime added, with some regret.

Vyse laughed. "Who cares? What matters is that we're all safe. Now let's get out of here while we still can!"


	16. The Mists of Rixis

The rescued slaves were taken back to Horteka, where the villagers went crazy upon seeing their goddess return with some of their missing. The Elder promised to get them all back to their homes, but the skies were dominated by the Valuans and the Ixa'Takans had been grounded for years\. The only reason the flotillas from Kahala and Cocotl had dared to come over to the capital island, he explained, was because they knew they were under Queyta's protection. Fina advised them to stay on the ground while she searched for and in Rixis.

Centime was reunited with his family and instantly got back to work on the _Iron__Clad_ alongside Hans, who was so grateful over his father's return that he promised Vyse he would become a member of his crew one day once he became a captain. Centime did some adjustments to the _Little Jack_ to make it faster and repaired its sails and rigging as a debt of gratitude.

When everything was said and done, the four, with Isapa in tow, boarded the _Little Jack_ and set off for King Temahalan's hideout once more. This time, when the priests saw the distinctive form of the green ship heading towards them, they were out on the balcony to welcome them, waving their staves excitedly. Temahalan rushed out as well and greeted Fina, but as the two talked they were solemn and businesslike.

The conversation lasted a while, and Aika and Drachma hovered nearby in confusion, having no clue as to what was going on. At last, after nearly an hour, Fina bowed to the king and the conversation stopped. The king went back into the hut and Isapa made to follow, but she called for him to stop. Vyse heard her say something about Rixis. The High Priest laughed.

"Where'd he get this guy...?" Aika murmured.

Isapa made a brief reply. Fina looked confused. He shrugged, smiled at her, and went back into the hut.

"What'd he say?" Vyse asked.

"I asked him where Rixis was," she said. "He told me the legend that had been passed down to him from his predecessors: 'The bird with its wings spread wide and the kneeling golden man will open the way'. That's all he said. A-and I asked him what it meant and he admitted he didn't know."

"Why am I not surprised?" Aika asked, rolling her dark eyes. "Fina told me he was trying to guess my measurements earlier..."

Vyse still felt irritated. "What a waste of time. That makes no sense at all."

"Hmph. Looks like we get t'find it on our own," Drachma grumbled. "We're no better off than DeLoco. Wonderful."

"No...no, wait!" Fina's eyes suddenly went wide as an enlightened look came over her face. She ran back inside and Vyse followed.

She led the four of them up to the bridge, were her map was still lying on the table. She marked down their current position, the giant tree, then marked down a few more spots on the map. Vyse and Aika gazed on in confusion while Drachma got the ship going again. It pulled away just as Fina finished her drawings.

"These are all major landmarks I forgot to put in before. They're remnants of the Green Civilization," she explained.

"What are they?" Aika asked, peering over her shoulder curiously.

"This one way over here is the Turtala Pole...that's nowhere near what we should be looking for. But here! Look here. We're not too far from the ruins of the Ixa'Takan palace. Just past that should be another mountain-mesa with a statue on it. It's made from solid gold. It's the golden man, it has to be! And then past there to the southwest, by Lake Coutzacalan, is the remnants of what my people call 'mounds' or sometimes 'crop circles'. There's only two left in Ixa'Taka now: a series of rings, and this one, a giant bird. That has to be what he was talking about."

Aika apparently had stopped listening after 'solid gold'. "How big is this statue?"

"It should be quite large...Rixis was a very rich, very prosperous city, so they tended to do everything very elaborately."

"You know what I heard, from some of the Valuan guards in the mines?" Vyse asked, eyes wide. "They say the entire city is made of gold...even the streets are paved with it."

"Oooooh!" Aika began to bounce around excitedly. "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go right now!"

"Whaddaya think we're doin', whelp?" Drachma asked from the wheel. "Fina, bring yer map up here. Show me where to go."

Under Fina's guidance, Drachma sailed the _Little Jack_ over the endless forests below. The trip quickly proved to be uneventful and Drachma soon sent Aika and Vyse below deck to do chores, telling them to make up for what Fina was supposed to be doing as well. There wasn't that much to be done, however, and by the time Aika had gone into the galley to make lunch, Vyse had already finished his own grunt work and returned to the bridge. If there was one thing aside from a hard time Drachma had given him since allowing him to sail aboard the _Little Jack_, it was a whole lot more muscle than he had started with after leaving Pirate Isle.

He walked up to the window and thought he saw something below. It was what appeared to be some crumbled stone pillars just barely managing to rise above the forest canopy, which Fina identified as the remains of the Ixa'Takan palace.

"The Golden Man can't be far now," she said, with a smile.

Drachma altered his course so the _Little Jack_ sailed in a more northerly path. About half an hour passed before a small mesa began to emerge from the mists. By the time they were sufficiently close to it, Aika arrived with their lunches on a large tray and nearly dropped it at what she saw.

"Moons! It's...it's...I wanna take it home!"

Crowning the uppermost ridge of the mesa was a statue of a large warrior done in the sloping-style artwork that seemed to be traditional of the region. He was made of solid gold that gleamed dully in the sun, but the majority of it was tarnished and weathered to the point where it was green, gray or brown. He crouched low in the forests at his feet, and slowly the vines were beginning to scale his solid figure. One arm was outstretched as he pointed towards the immediate southwest where a whole range of mountains rose into the mists. Fina seemed surprised that it was still perfectly in tact.

"Look! There's a big jewel in one of his eyes!" Aika observed. "Can I grab that at least? Please?" And before anyone could stop her, she ran out on deck, hopped across to the statue, and began to scale it.

Vyse chuckled and shook his head. "I hope that's not anything too important..."

"Well...technically that belongs to the Ixa'Takan people, but..." Fina clutched her hands over her chest. "One of the jewels is already missing, so...I-I guess it's okay...It would be kind of nice, having a relic from the Old World..."

"That's what treasure hunting's all about!" Vyse replied, with a wink.

Ten minutes later, an enormous garnet disc fell to the deck of the _Little Jack_ and a triumphant Aika dropped down after it. The disc, which she needed to heft in two hands, showed no weathering whatsoever and was as fiery as a red moonstone, glimmering as if it were still brand new. Darker designs had been carved into it, and etched onto the front were a couple old runes. Fina translated it as "Eye of Fire".

Two days later, after sailing through the rugged mountain range, they came upon the mound Fina had described. It was a series of large, intricate lines formed in the earth, in a clearing the jungle had yet to overgrow, that formed a tribal-looking symbol of a bird that was easily four or five miles wide between the wingtips. Aika noticed it had a gem in one of its eyes as well and went down to get it. She returned with a sapphire disc nearly identical to her previous find off the Golden Man, this one with runes Fina translated as "Eye of Ice".

"There's gotta be a connection," Vyse said.

"Each one has an eye gem missing, it would seem," Fina mused, quietly. "We should definitely keep these with us. They must have some significance."

"Hmph. But now what?" Drachma asked. "We've been sailin' for four days now and still haven't found what these damn landmarks're suppos'ta be showin' us. That statue pointed to this bird and this bird's pointin' to that statue. We'll be goin' in circles forever here."

"Obviously Rixis is somewhere in between them," Fina replied, gently. "Directly in the middle of the two is that mountain range, and that's where Rixis is hidden according to Silvite maps."

"But there's dozens of mountains there. How do we know which one is the right one?" Aika asked.

Fina sighed. "That's the problem. We don't. We're probably best off landing at the foot of the mountains and scouting them by foot. There's a gate that leads up into the city that will be easy to find, but I don't think we'll be able to see it from the air."

"But you said the jungles were dangerous," Aika said, giving her a teasing nudge.

Fina nodded. "They are."

After another day and a half, they arrived at the mountain range again, and Drachma forced the _Little Jack_ down between the trees to ensure it was sufficiently hidden from Valuan eyes. Fina crafted a magic beacon Cupil could track so they could find the ship again, and then they packed up a hefty supply of food and water and Drachma took some tents and navigational equipment on his back. When they were sure they were fully stocked, Fina led the way towards the bases of the mountains.

The jungles were a thick tangle of vines, ferns, and underbrush that proved difficult to get through. Eventually Vyse had to draw his cutlasses and hack them a path through the overgrowth because the strangling limbs were too tough to push through otherwise. The humid mists swirled all around them and they constantly had to rest to catch their breath in the unfamiliar heat. Vyse eventually removed his tunic because he was getting so hot, and tied his scarf around his forehead to keep the sweat rolling off of it from getting in his eyes.

All of the trees were crammed closely together, some even intertwined. They were just like their massive Hortekan cousins, and rose to seemingly impossible heights, covered almost completely in vines and moss. The canopies were so thickly tangled together that no light whatsoever could get through. Occasionally a patch or two would appear to light their way, but for the most part they couldn't even tell what time of day it was.

The heavy air was filled with all sorts of chirrups, warbles and cries unfamiliar to any of their ears. Though the trees were alive with the wild energy of the animals residing there, nobody could see any of them. Every once in a while Vyse would catch a glimpse of something large and black slithering through the trees, and Fina would sight a colorful bird in one of the lower branches of the canopy. Aika sighted a snake that was impossibly huge and ran off in the other direction, whereupon they had to spend two hours looking for her.

Sleeping in the jungle proved to be an interesting experience. With the nighttime came the frightening wails of creatures Fina assured them they didn't want to meet, and a whole swarm of biting bugs out for blood. Unable to find a suitable clearing to camp in, Drachma was forced to string their tents up between the trees because there was simply no room to stake them. It was difficult lighting a fire with the moist, moss-covered wood of the forest, and Vyse began to wish they had brought a hunter from Horteka as a guide. The smoke was a welcome deterrent to the bugs, but Fina refused to allow the fire to burn overnight in what she called a sacred environment.

When they woke up, they were covered in so many itching bug bites that it drove Vyse and Aika crazy. Fina offered up some green magic to temporarily make the itching go away, but she said she could not heal the bites without a silver moonstone. Any relief was welcome.

Drachma was angry to find that something had stolen half their food overnight and left the campsite in a wreck. They spent most the morning gathering fruit to make up for it, using Cupil's nose to determine if something was poisonous or not. Aika's boomerang proved to be a good way for felling animals that were otherwise too skittish to get up close to, and soon she had rounded up enough fresh meat to keep them full for a while.

By the middle of the second day, however, they stumbled into a clearing where a giant stone head rose out of the mountainside with two smaller heads sitting beside it. The stones were fitted so tightly together that even insects couldn't crawl through them, and the faces carved into their breadths were menacing.

"This is it. These are the Gates of Rixis," Fina declared, with a smile.

"Finally!" Aika flopped down into the moss covering the forest floor, rolling around in it happily. "I thought we were lost for sure!"

"Mmph. S'good place t'keep the ship, too," Drachma observed. "I don't want it sittin' out in this place alone. I'm goin' back and bringin' it here."

"But Captain, we don't have much time to waste..." Vyse protested. "The Valuans are looking for Rixis too, you know."

"All the more reason we'll want the _Little Jack_ nearby us," he concluded.

Vyse had to agree with that. He pitched camp and the next day Drachma left with Fina to go find the ship. They were back by nighttime.

When morning rolled around, they packed up the camp again and at last approached the giant stone head that had been looming over them unnervingly the whole time. Vyse stopped at its 'mouth' and stared at it, contemplating the complex and tight-fitting stonework.

"Okay...how do we open this thing?" he asked.

"Uhm..." Fina was at a loss. "Let me look around, maybe I'll find something."

She was quick. Sure enough, she found the answer laying on one of the adjacent, smaller heads in the form of a riddle. The head, which was as large as she was tall, had a single eye socket indented as if to receive something there. On it's base in the Ixa'Takan runes they had seen earlier were the words, "I see into the cold hearts of men."

"Eye of Ice," she concluded, with a smile.

Aika rushed back to the ship and brought back with her the two stones she had taken from the Golden Man and the Great Bird. With Vyse's help, she hefted the sapphire into the hole provided by the statue Fina stood by and it slid in with ease; a perfect fit. As it nestled in to the sheltered alcove, it began to glow softly.

"Hah! Looks like we were right," Vyse said with a smirk.

They proceeded to follow the process with the statue on the other side, sliding the ruby eye into its empty socket. Vyse had barely stepped back when the ground began to tremble and the grinding of stone on stone filled their ears. Slowly, all three statues turned in unison, until they were facing backwards from their original positions. The two small heads now had their gems hidden against the face of the mountain, and the larger head had turned so that its 'mouth' was now open, giving them access to a large round platform that hovered slightly off the ground.

"What's that?" Aika asked, staring into the gaping doorway.

"It's a platform that will take us up into Rixis. A kind of elevator, you could say," Fina replied, with a smile. "It floats under moonstone power much the same way your ships do. We use platforms like this to move around all the time back at home."

"It'll carry us up there?" Vyse asked, blinking.

Fina nodded. "Oh, yes. It would be a very long, hard climb otherwise. Don't be afraid, it's safe, even after all this time. That's how advanced the technology of the Old World was." She smiled, and stepped onto the platform, holding a hand out to them. With some reluctance they followed, and after a moment it began to swiftly and smoothly rise.

The stone head gate turned out to be the entrance to a shaft that went completely through the mountain in a perfectly vertical path. Vyse wasn't sure exactly how long they stood there as the platform flew up, but they were going at a fairly fast speed and the tunnel didn't show any light at the top for quite a while. He estimated their climb to be at least twenty minutes long before the platform finally slowed and they pulled up to a landing atop a smoothly paved courtyard.

As Vyse stepped out onto solid ground once more, he couldn't believe what he saw. The thick, heavy atmosphere of the jungles had faded away into a thinner, colder one that made his ears pop, and everything everywhere was shrouded in a dense, misty fog that swirled around like an ethereal shroud purposely meant to cover the city. The din of the jungle was now gone, and there was nothing to fill the completely still air save for an eerie silence. All around him, climbing the face of the mountain, were the ruins of an entire city hewn from dark stone, a city so tightly interwoven together with buildings stacked so firmly atop one another that it simply looked like a giant palace. Thousands of small, intricate steps and staircases connected everything together, but the walls were crumbled in some places and no buildings had any roofs or doors. The most shocking thing he noticed were the massive craters, most over thirty feet deep, littered everywhere throughout the area. The city looked dead and had the depressing feel of abandonment around it, yet in the air was a feeling as if it were spiritually still alive. He had never seen or experienced anything like it.

"Now I know why they call this place the City of Mist..." Aika said, in total awe as she stepped off the platform. "But I don't remember seeing any mist like this in the jungle..."

Vyse nodded a bit. "The air is thin...it's a little hard to breathe. We were going up for a pretty long time. I think these mists are actually clouds." He paused to take a second look around. "But this doesn't look anything like a Lost City of Gold...there's just a bunch of depressing ruins up here."

"In the Old World, Rixis was the capital of the Green Civilization," Fina said, slowly stepping forward and regarding the ruins with a sort of quiet respect. Her eyes wandered, and rested on one of the craters nearby. "It was one of the places hit hardest by the Rains of Destruction. Since then, it has been frozen in time."

"These craters must have been caused by the moonstones that were bombarding the city, then..." Vyse said, eyes widening at the sudden realization of just _how_ powerful the Rains were.

Aika wasn't listening. She was too busy looking around. After a moment she turned and looked at Vyse with a completely deadpan expression. "I'm not seeing any gold here..." she said, accusingly.

Drachma turned to look at her, his mustache twitching. "As time passed, stories about this city probably got more and more exaggerated."

Aika sighed. "We were supposed to find gold here. I should have slapped that dirty old man silly when I had the chance." Suddenly, however, she froze, her eyes locked on something in the distance. "V-Vyse...if this city has been dead for generations...then who is that?!"

Vyse whirled around. He couldn't see anything through the fog. "What? Where?"

"Over...there..." Aika blinked, sounding confused. ".It's gone. But...but there was someone there!"

Vyse shook his head. "Aika, this city has been dead for a very long time. Who else would be here? I know it's kinda a spooky place, but I think it's just your imagination acting up for a change."

"Why don't you believe me? I know I saw something!" she protested. "Fina...do you think it was a ghost?"

"A ghost?" Fina blinked, clasping her hands over her chest. "Uhm...what's a ghost?"

Vyse grinned.

Aika sighed. "Heh...it's been a while since you've said something like that. A ghost is...uhm...how should I explain this? Something very scary, what!"

Fina looked a little unnerved. "Really? Well...if it scares you, Aika, then this 'ghost' must be very scary, indeed."

Aika drooped, closing her eyes. "The two things I hate most right now are dirty old men and ghosts. Vyse! Let's...let's not go. We'll be cursed!"

Vyse only smirked, putting his hands on his hips. "Oh, come on, Aika. We came all this way for the Green Crystal and we're not going back empty-handed." He turned sly. "You could just wait here until we get back..."

Aika jumped. "Ohhh, no! I'm not gonna wait here all by myself with those...things out there! Alright, alright...I'll go with you. I can't believe I'm doing this..."

Fina smiled apologetically and took the lead.

When they scaled the first flight of steps and reached the main courtyard, the four of them got a taste of just how expansive the city really was. It could have easily matched the size of Madera, and stretched on until the clouds swallowed it up completely. Vyse stared at it wide-eyed and realized there was no straight path through it. Not only did the ruins zigzag across each other, but the moonstone craters proved to be obstacles in and of themselves, forming pits in the most inconvenient places.

"Guess we've got a long walk ahead o'us," Drachma said, wryly. "Better start movin' before the sun goes completely down."

"Hard to tell where to start..." Vyse said. "Any idea on where the crystal's hidden, Fina?"

"It's on the other end of the city..." she replied, quietly. "It should be kept in a temple at the top of the mountain."

"Of course..." Aika murmured.

"Heh. Guess the sooner we start, the better, then." Vyse picked a direction and began to travel in it. "Let's go."

There seemed to be a pattern in the intricate layout of the city, but Vyse couldn't figure it out. He wound his way up a narrow flight of stairs and found himself atop a wall that was equally as narrow. Shimmying across it, he had to hop down some rubble to the other side in order to get around a massive crater laying in his path. The next few flights of stairs were wide and unobstructed, and he realized the city wasn't as ruined as he initially thought. Though a good majority of it had crumbled due to the harassment of the Rains, it was still fairly well in tact and he began to get a feeling for the people who once lived there. It was sad, that everything they worked for had since vanished.

Curiosity began to overcome him, and his path began to stray. He no longer wound his way directly up and instead began to clamber around everywhere, exploring the ruins, and looking in the more intact of the buildings to see if anything remained. To his disappointment, most everything was gone. There didn't seem to be any hints left of the Green Civilization, save for their distinctive tribal artwork. Even the Temple of Pyrynn had had some remnants of its former glory, and he began to wonder how it escaped the Rains completely unscathed.

Finally giving up his treasure hunt, at least on the lower end of the city, Vyse began his climb once again. He had to cut through some houses and holes in the walls in order to avoid areas that looked unstable or were blocked off by craters, and Fina had a little trouble crossing the larger gaps as compared to the more limber Aika. Smaller alleys were her specialty, however, and she was easily able to squeeze through them in order to search for a clearer path up ahead. Eventually they began to make some distinctive progress.

The ruins were unchanging, and yet they didn't cease to amaze Vyse. There still remained hovering in the fog around them that certain energy that he could not place. The city was sacred; not only because it was a living monument to the Green Civilization, but because it was a haven to the wild. He could see that a small variety of animals had made their homes within the rubble, from a herd of four-legged pack animals with long, shaggy green fur and fuzzy ears to small colonies of butterflies with multiple wings nearly a foot long. They floated about the party lazily and a few landed atop Aika and Fina's heads, sending some powder gently dusting down off their bodies. Aika began to have an allergic reaction to it to the point where Cupil had to chase the butterflies away.

The ruins proved too large to tackle in one day, however, and before long the sky was growing noticeably darker behind the fog. Drachma chose the shelter of a large building to pitch the camp in and they kindled a campfire using some of the red moonstones Hans had given them before they left Horteka, as there was no wood to be found in the city. Drachma, exhausted from the day's exertions, quickly fell asleep within his tent while Aika and Fina worked together to make dinner, but Vyse was still brimming with energy. He snuck out while the girls were distracted in order to do just a little more exploring.

He didn't plan on going far. The building they had chosen was large and tall, and he knew it would provide a good vantage point for him to view more of the city if he could. He found a crumbled flight of stairs leading to the top of one of the walls and quickly flew up along it, hopping over the spots that were missing. When he had at last reached the top of the building, he had to pause to let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the night. Up here the fog was so thick that the Green Moon's light could not filter through, shrouding the city in eternal darkness. It was such a stark contrast from the warm pink light of the fire that it took him several minutes before he was able to see.

In the dark, Rixis looked like a graveyard, a haunted city. The dark walls of the remains of the buildings rose and fell like giant tombstones, and the black, churning fog swirled through the gaping doors and windows like the spirits of a thousand slaughtered tribesmen. The eerie stillness of the air took on an almost frightening chill now that there was no light to illuminate the city, and the animals that had taken asylum in its ruins were now completely silent and nowhere to be seen. Vyse began to imagine sounds he didn't hear and see sights he didn't see, and was about to go back down to the camp grounds until one of those sights refused to go away.

In the distance, standing atop one of the nearer buildings, was a figure silhouetted completely in black in contrast to the misty charcoal hues of the fog. It seemed to blot out the clouds with it's small, robed form, and was distinctly human in shape. He couldn't tell if it was male or female, but in its hand it clutched a large staff. Another figure came up beside it, this one slightly larger, and then a third, smaller one, both robed, both ambiguous.

Vyse couldn't believe what he was seeing. These figures were distinctly real, not figments of his imagination. He thought back to what Aika had grown uneasy about earlier that morning and began to accept the fact that perhaps there _were_ ghosts. Unlike Aika, however, he wasn't afraid of the unknown, and he had to know the truth; it would drive him crazy all night otherwise.

Nimbly, he sprang from the roof across to the next wall, then ran along the parapet to the next wall, and the next. He ran out of stable platforms and had to return to the ground once more, temporarily losing sight of his targets. When at last he arrived at the building he was sure they were standing on, they were gone without a trace.

"Hello?" he called, out into the blackness of the night. Then he tried one of the Ixa'Takan words Fina had taught him.

Nothing, not even the wind.

The mist swirled beneath him. Down below, in a large clearing where no buildings rested but where there was thin but ample grass, some of the shaggy green-furred animals were still grazing while others had laid down to rest. He watched the herd and its families for a moment, the mothers nursing their babies and the fathers keeping one eye out for them as they grazed. They grunted and whuffed to themselves contentedly.

Suddenly, however, one of the herd males stiffened, snapping his long neck up and looking around with a startled expression on his face. His large, fuzzy ears remained stiff and erect, and Vyse could actually see the white in his dark eyes. Abruptly, it began to make a clucking noise and the herd sprang to its feet and hurried to dash for the shelter of the nearest buildings.

What Vyse saw next was enough to send him scrambling back to the campsite. The animals had heard it long before he ever did. Carried aloft on massive wings that churned the air with hardly a sound, a gigantic figure easily the size of a Valuan battleship suddenly emerged from the darkness of the fog with a loud and fearsome screech. It was the largest bird of prey he had ever seen, with glimmering red sheets of feathers and magnificent fiery plumes atop its head, breast and tail. In one graceful swoop, it grasped two of the largest herd males in its enormous talons and carried them, screaming, off into the darkness, vanishing as quickly and silently into the mist as it had came.

When he returned to the camp, Aika and Fina were huddling fearfully together. They had heard the noises too and were worried about him. They clung to him as he finally returned, burying themselves into his tunic.

"I thought the ghosts got you!" Aika cried.

"That wasn't a ghost -- it was a giant bird!" And he proceeded to describe what he had just seen to the both of them.

"_Rik'talesh_," Fina murmured. "My people call them Rocs. They're rare, but they frequent the area. They nest high up in these mountains and in the islands in the upper cloud layer. A single one of their eggs can feed a city the size of Madera for almost a moon."

"It won't come after us, will it?" Vyse asked.

"Humans are a little small for its tastes," Fina admitted, "But that doesn't guarantee that it won't. We'd better stay within these buildings after the sun goes down."

None of the three were able to sleep for the rest of the night.

* * *

The next morning came all too late. Vyse, Aika and Fina were left groggy by the time Drachma forced them to get out of bed, and they found they didn't have much of an appetite after cooking breakfast. Drachma noticed something was awry with his charges and demanded to know what was wrong, so they told him the story of the Roc. He dismissed it as if it were nothing.

"Giant birds, giant Arcwhales...makes no difference. Neither scare me, and neither should scare you, either."

By the time they started out again, it was rather bright and the fog had thinned slightly so that they could see ahead of themselves a lot better than they did the previous day. Vyse remembered the paths he had taken when chasing the ghosts the previous night and thus knew a couple of shortcuts to the upper side of the city, which greatly cut down on their time traveling. Aika couldn't sit still. She kept one eye on the sky at all times, having forgotten the ghosts in favor of the Roc.

Climbing proved to be more difficult as the grade the city followed grew decidedly steeper. Vyse found himself having to backtrack even more across the interlocking ruins as some places were simply too high or steep to climb or inaccessible altogether. By the afternoon, however, they had reached a smooth plateau that overlooked a canyon from which the upper half of the city rose. The four of them gazed at it in wonder as they stopped to rest and eat their lunch.

Unlike the open, lower portion of the city, which had a layout much like that of a fortress, upper Rixis was composed of enormous towers and expansive apartments that were almost completely in tact and unscathed because of the sheltered cliffsides that rose above them. The structures, obviously built in a later period of time than that of the lower city, were all decorated in brilliant and complex borders and motifs, and the towers had the likenesses of humans built in to them, just like the stone head gate. The door was again a mouth open in a wide scream, the eyes hollow and menacing, the ramparts crowned with a 'headdress'. Two hands wrapped around its middle, and from behind it rose a palace-like structure that stretched further into the canyon. There was nothing to bridge the gaps between the apartments emerging from the cliff walls and the enormous towers except for a few more floating platforms that seemed completely functional.

Vyse couldn't wait to explore this new, more intact part of the city. He quickly finished his meal and urged the others to do the same, hurrying them onto the nearest floating platform. It hovered steadily across the gaping canyon and pulled up alongside a landing of one of the apartments. Eagerly, he rushed in, but to his disappointment, there was nothing there.

"Rixis really _is_ dead..." he murmured.

They searched all of the apartments and then took a platform to the other side of the canyon to search those there, but there was nothing, not even hints of moonstone or gold pieces. There was no furniture, no pottery, no remnants of life save for the beautiful artwork on the wall.

"A lot can disappear in a thousand years..." Fina said.

Giving up on his treasure hunt yet again, Vyse climbed up to the final platform and rode it into the tower looming high above them. As they stepped off onto the landing, however, they all came face-to-face with a grayed figure off in the distance, the same one Vyse had seen the previous night.

"There!" Aika cried, with a gasp. "That's it! That's the ghost I saw!"

"It's the same one I saw last night!" Vyse said, blinking.

"Hmph!" Whether or not Drachma believed what he was seeing was unclear. "Who would be sneakin' around in a place like this? Don't let 'im get away, boy!"

"You can't chase a ghost..." Aika protested.

Vyse took a few long strides forward. The ghost sidestepped to the left and vanished into the swirling fog.

"Can't believe we're chasin' ghosties now..." Drachma mumbled.

Slowly, Vyse ventured out along the pathway and followed it to the left in the direction the ghost had disappeared in, only to find it waiting there for him around the corner. It quickly whirled around and vanished into the thickening mists again, and Vyse heard a distinct clattering left in its wake. He dashed forward as a red glow began to bleed through the fog and stopped as he nearly ran into a giant stone head almost identical to the ones at the gate. In its eye was the same ruby Aika had stolen from the Golden Man.

"What in the world?!"

"Perhaps...there's more than one...?" Fina guessed.

"It looks like it's powering that platform out there..." Aika observed, peering out into the fog at a shape moving back and forth between their edge of the floor and the endless gray abyss. The fog had grown so thick now that none of them could see very far.

Vyse waited for the platform to come back their way and then stepped upon it, the others following suit. It pulled them into the mist and across to the other side of the canyon, where two more platforms were waiting for them. One vanished vertically into the clouds just as they arrived. He hurried to catch the other one, and it lifted them up as well.

The ride was similar to that of the gateway platform, and all Vyse could see for the longest time in any and all directions was the heavy gray mist. It grew thicker, colder, and the winds whipped all around him until he was left shivering. After a while it became hard to tell if they were actually moving or not, but abruptly the clouds began to clear and suddenly he emerged above them, to the flattened peak of the mountain.

The view as they stepped back onto solid ground was enough to take all of their breaths away. They were at the very pinnacle of Ixa'Taka, the highest peak in the land. All around them below was a sea of clouds, swirling gentle white mists that covered the world all the way to the horizon. All that could be seen was the peaks of other adjacent mountains rising triumphantly above the sea, most crowned in scant smatterings of plant life and some crumbled, ancient ruins.

The sky was the darkest and richest blue Vyse had ever seen, and the sun seemed blazing and brighter than ever. He realized that they were above the upper cloud layer now, in Upper Sky, where no ship of even Valuan design could reach. Behind them loomed a large temple or shrine, pyramid-shaped in design, with a long flight of steps leading up to its topmost chamber and two bridges joining the platform docks to it. A good hunk of the first corner of the pyramid had been blown away, and so was half of the bridge nearest them. The other bridge had crumbled completely.

"We're here! We made it!" Fina cried, happily. She ran out across the bridge and came to a grinding halt when she reached the other side. "Oh...oh my..."

"Animal bones..." Aika said as she joined her. "Fresh ones."

Piles of them. They were stacked everywhere, accompanied by occasional tufts of fur, most of it green. Dried blood was trailed all the way up the steps of the temple and splotched all around its base.

"The Roc must eat its kill here..." Fina said.

"Let's hurry and get the crystal before it decides to come back," Vyse replied.

Together, they hurried their way towards the temple, jogging up the flight of steps as fast as they could. They had just reached the small chamber located on the top of it, however, when something blotted out the sun. A fearsome screech made Vyse whirl around and the girls screamed and dove into a corner just as something plummeted for them.

The chamber, though its roof had collapsed, was too small for their Roc assailant to fit in, so it chose instead to land on the steps just outside and screech at them. The sound was so high-pitched, so loud, that it pained them to listen to it, and their ears began to bleed.

Vyse peered up and sprung back just in time as it opened its enormous beak and snapped at them. He pressed himself up against the far wall and Drachma cracked it hard on the beak before retreating and doing the same.

There was no way they could defeat a creature that size with swords and magic alone. It would take cannon fire from the _Little Jack_ to bring it down, he knew. They were trapped like mice at the hands of a hungry eagle, and their ship was the least accessible thing of all.

"Do you...think it's...hungry...?" Aika asked, fear all too present in her wide eyes.

"I think this might be the Crystal Guardian..." Fina said, unable to keep her eyes off the fearsome creature.

"How does it expect us to leave if it's blocking our path like that?" Vyse asked, not really understanding the logic behind the bird's attack. Its beak alone was the size of their Harpoon Cannon.

"How 'bout I drill 'is eye out?" Drachma asked, with a grunt. "I got my drill with me."

"No...you wouldn't be able to get close enough to pull off a decent shot. I don't want you to get hurt, Captain," Vyse replied.

"Fina! Can't you talk to it?" Aika asked, franticly.

"N-no, I can't..." Fina replied. "Only the people of the Green Civilization could talk to animals."

"Well...magic it or something, then! Maybe we can freeze it!"

"Hmph. That'd be like freezin' a heavy battle cruiser o'the Armada. Ain't gonna happen, lass," Drachma replied.

The Roc screeched and lunged for them again, its beak snapping dangerously close. The only thing really keeping it from reaching Vyse and Drachma was the small altar set in the middle of the room.

"Can't Cupil talk to it?" Aika wailed.

"He's been trying to!" Fina replied.

The Roc was growing impatient. Its feathers bristled and it flapped its wings angrily, kicking up a strong wind as it hissed at them. Vyse was at a loss for what to do. There was nowhere to go, and no way they could fight it off, either.

Suddenly, however, something in the air seemed to catch the Roc's attention, and a wild, startled look grew in its enormous black eyes. It turned and peered down into the cloud mass below with a raspy hiss, then dove off its perch and vanished into the mists. Vyse didn't dare breathe for several minutes afterwards, but it didn't come back.

"Is it...is it gone...?" Aika whispered.

"I-I think so..." Fina replied, slowly crawling out of her corner.

"Whew...that was a little _too_ close..." Vyse swallowed thickly, then stepped back into the center of the chamber, untying his scarf to wipe at his ears and likewise dab away the blood of the others. Drachma's blood had gotten in his beard and stained the frosty hair there with streaks of crimson, giving him an unnerving appearance.

When he was sure everyone was better, Vyse stepped back and for the first time got a good look around at the chamber. It was tiny and perfectly square, with a whole panorama mural painted on the walls of Ixa'Takan people, distinctly nomads, paying homage and bringing gifts to...a Silvite! A young Silvite woman who looked almost identical to Fina was painted on the backmost wall in all her glory, outlined in glowing golden paint and made distinctly bigger than the other people in the mural. Everyone was staring at it.

"That must be Queyta..." Aika said, blinking. "No wonder the Ixa'Takans mistook Fina for her."

"We, who have come from the Temple of the Silver Moon..." Fina said, in wonder.

"Huh?" Vyse turned around and blinked, and found Fina to be reading a scripture etched in a large plate of solid silver wrapped around a supportive pillar in the wall.

"...have sealed within the forests, after the Rains of Destruction washed away the lands, the unsleeping giant, Grendel...and upon his sealing, the Green Crystal was kept within these walls." Fina stepped back, eyes a little wide. "This is written in the holy language of the Silver Temple. My people must have inscribed it while they were here."

"But...this is Ixa'Taka," Vyse said, blinking. "Why would Silvites come here?"

Fina turned back to face him, smiling sadly. "As I said, Ixa'Taka was one of the hardest-hit places by the Rains of Destruction. Almost everyone here was wiped out. But even after the rains fell, Grendel -- or Viracocha, as was his Ixa'Takan name -- continued to terrorize the lands for many years to follow. My people came here to contain him." She shook her head, gazing over to the picture of the Silvite on the wall. "But they came too late. The Green Civilization was destroyed and its people reduced to a few primitive tribes of scavengers."

Drachma nodded a bit, his good eye locked on the picture as well. "They probably thought the Silvites were gods because they were able to contain Grendel."

"It all makes sense now...that's why they were certain that Fina was Queyta..." Aika said, nodding.

"No...it's not just that." Fina peered down at her feet, blushing. "The image of Queyta there on the wall...looks like me for a reason. She is my great ancestor, Teletha Selvarn. A-at the time, she was the High Elder of my people, and...and she led the expedition down here to contain the Gigas."

Vyse approached the altar that had been protecting them from the Roc and ran his fingers across its rune-etched surface. There was a large, diamond-shaped indentation in the center of it, but nothing was there.

"So...if the Moon Crystal's kept within these walls...where is it?" he asked.

"You're right." Fina blinked. "It should be right there..."

A sudden shifting caught Drachma's attention. Abruptly, the old man whirled around and glared in the direction of the staircase. "Who's there?!" he ordered.

A figure in white suddenly emerged from behind a pillar and dashed down the steps. Drachma snarled and shot his bronze fist after him, but it was a miss. Vyse wasted no time in following up and leapt down after him.

"Don't let 'im get away!" Drachma called. "He must have the crystal!"

Vyse leapt onto the smooth part of the staircase and slid down it pell-nell as the figure dashed on ahead. Without individual steps he caught up with ease and in one fluid motion managed to tackle the figure and wrestle him to the ground. The others hurried down the steps and formed a ring around him, and as Vyse stepped back, he realized his catch was actually one of the King's high priests.

"So this is the 'ghost!'" Aika cried, putting her hands on her hips.

"Who are you?!" Drachma demanded. "And why are you followin' us? Fina! Ask him!"

Fina nodded timidly and spoke to the priest. He trembled, collapsed to the ground, and covered his head as he replied. Fina translated.

"Please don't kill me! I'm a high priest of King Temahalan!"

"Ask him if he's followed us all the way from the hideout," Vyse said.

Again, Fina translated both ways. "No...I didn't follow anyone. My companions and I have been here for a while. It is our duty to guard these ruins.If anybody tries to come up here, or steal the sacred green stone, I contact King Temahalan..."

Aika was outraged. "Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that the king knew where the Lost City was all this time?!"

Fina began to look upset. She had been lied to, again. Nevertheless, she continued to translate. "Yes. We figured out Isapa's riddle long ago...and we found Rixis, and the stone within. We didn't know what it did until a few days ago, when you, Fina, told him what the Valuans were really after. He realized what the stone's true purpose was for and was very happy, because he could use it to awaken the Giant to finally rid our lands of the Valuans. He came here only a few days before you did and took it. Now he is looking for the Giant's shrine."

Vyse and Fina gasped in unison. "What?!" Vyse cried.

The priest nodded, meekly, and Fina translated, "With the Valuans busy looking for you, he figured it would be the perfect chance to make his move, and..." He pointed with his staff to the eastern horizon.

Slowly, Vyse turned his head and followed the direction the priest was pointing in. He could see something moving, rippling in the distance, but he couldn't tell what it was. Focusing his goggle, he zoomed in on it and blinked when he identified it as a beam of green light erupting up into the sky. The manner in which it did so was all too familiar.

"Aw, no...you have _got_ to be kidding me!" he cried.

A faint roar echoed throughout the mountainside. An indistinguishable blur began to rise from the ground.

"Grendel! No!" Fina cried. "Oh, I never should have told the king about him! He doesn't realize how dangerous it is!"

"We've gotta stop him!" Vyse exclaimed, staring at the large shape moving in the distance. He whirled around, facing Fina with wide eyes. "It's a two day's walk to the _Little Jack_ alone. Ask the priest if he knows a quicker way back into the jungles!"

Fina turned and did so. The priest made a detailed reply and a lot of gesturing. "He promises to show us the way out. There's a quicker, back way out of Rixis that he and the other priests guarding this place know."

* * *

The _Chameleon_ had been retrofitted and revamped to make it unlike any other U-boat in the Valuan Empire. Now it had enough armaments to stand a chance out in the open against another ship, and DeLoco had removed his Flame Cannon in favor of something much more powerful: his Moonstone Cannon. The rotating gun originally mounted on the front of the ship was moved to the "hand" of the mechanical crane beneath it to make room for the high-power weapon.

He had been sailing with his entire fleet in a wild search for Vyse. He knew it had been Vyse that had tampered with all of his machinery and temporarily shut down his mines, and he wasn't about to let him get away with it. Besides, the damned rogue owed him a rematch from that time they had met earlier while the forests were burning.

Sailing alongside him at the head of the fleet was the _Cygnus_, much to his disgruntlement. Alfonso was so sure that he would capture Vyse and get his revenge that he wouldn't stay behind despite DeLoco's protests. DeLoco would have had him punished for insubordination, but Alfonso still had his rank despite being removed of his command of the First Fleet in favor of Ramirez.

"_Carlos, I'm not sure if you've been paying attention or not..._" came Alfonso's voice over the staticy radio, "_But there's something to starboard you might want to look at..._" He sounded cocky, as always.

"Up, periscope! Search to starboard!" DeLoco ordered.

His vice captain complied and lifted the periscope, removing his helmet to peer into it. "Sir, there's a green light coming from the forests."

"What do you mean, a green light?" DeLoco demanded.

"A green beam of light. It's just as Admiral Belleza described when she summoned the Red Gigas."

"What?!" DeLoco whirled around, staring at him. "You mean somebody's summoning Grendel? Without me? Grendel is mine! MINE! I was assigned to Grendel!"

The forest began to tremble violently as DeLoco turned his ship sharply to starboard and found himself facing the green ray of light exploding into the sky. Chunks of land began to fly everywhere and the trees collapsed into the ground as if being sucked into it. Tropical birds went scattering everywhere with startled cries as an enormous shape began to rise from the forests.

As it stood fully and righted itself, it emitted a mighty roar that trembled the very bases of his ship. It was a long, lanky figure that was almost impossibly skinny, with arms that nearly drug on the ground, bowed legs, broad shoulders and a very tapered waist. Its head was sunk low on its shoulders and was sort of slumped on a long and veiny neck. It rather resembled some of the primates he had seen in the jungles, with its broad face and heavy eye ridges. Its eyes glowed a fearsome red as it stood there and shook off the dust of a thousand generations that had settled onto its lanky form. Wild and savage didn't even begin to describe the beast. It was an abomination, a nightmare. DeLoco felt a little afraid.

"_What in the name of all that is holy _is _that thing?!_" Alfonso shrieked over the radio.

"It's the Gigas, you fool!" DeLoco quipped back. He switched to a broader frequency. "All ships, change course for the Gigas! Try to find King Ixa'Taka and knock his ship out of the sky! We need that Moon Crystal!"

"_Why don't we attack the Gigas, Admiral_?" the captain of one of the other ships asked.

"Because, Gigas only obey commands given to them by their masters," DeLoco replied. "If we take out the King instead, Grendel will be defenseless. _That's_ when we can make our move."

As one, the entire fleet turned and began to advance on the giant. A wooden ship, distinctly Ixa'Takan, slowly rose from the forests and began to fly alongside Grendel's head; it had to be the King. DeLoco squealed the order to attack, and the first wave of ships closed in, firing their main cannons. The explosions of the shells blossomed in fiery magnificence on the Gigas' body, but not a single shot did anything to sway it in the slightest.

"Second wave, attack! Ignore the Gigas, hit the King!" DeLoco screeched.

The second wave fired. Grendel stepped in front of the king's ship and took every hit. While both waves reloaded, its eyes suddenly grew in their blazing intensity and DeLoco realized only too late that the King must have issued an order to the giant. It clenched a fist and in a streak of crackling green light, took a mighty swing at the ships closest to it. They exploded on contact and nothing was left after the flaming debris fell to the forest below.

"_We can't get past the Gigas!_" Alfonso cried over the radio. "_Ixa'Taka's lost!_"

"Fool! The battle hasn't even started yet!" DeLoco replied.

"_I refuse to die in these filthy lands!_" Alfonso shouted, indignantly. "_I'm going back to Valua! Good-bye!_"

DeLoco watched in disgust as the _Cygnus_ turned and began to blast away to the north at full speed. Alfonso was a coward. He was almost worse than Vigoro. He--

"Admiral, the fleet needs more orders!" the vice captain cried, franticly. He was pointing wildly out the window, to where Grendel was tearing large hunks of earth from the ground and hurtling them with hurricane force at the first wave of ships. The chunks were big enough to wipe out six at a time and send them crashing to the forest below. It began to burn steadily under the fires from so much gear grease and engine oil.

DeLoco had had enough already. His ships were dropping like flies. "All ships pull back! Give me clearance for a shot!" he ordered. He then called down into the engine room, "Prepare the experimental Moonstone Cannon! Halt all systems, divert all power to the cannon!"

The _Chameleon _came to a standstill as all but the essential systems were shut off and the engine's power diverted to the test canon. The bow of the ship blossomed open care of a special hatch for the canon DeLoco had developed and the entire hull began to tremble as the canon charged up. A ball of yellow light steadily grew until it was as large as the ship was round.

"FIRE!" DeLoco cried.

The ball of light exploded into a beam so powerful that the recoil shot the ship back over a hundred yards. It made only a quiet whining sound as it shot forth, straight and true, for Grendel's head. It was a direct hit and the Gigas curled away, clutching at its skull and cringing away like a child that had just been disciplined. Unable to react in time as his living shield abruptly dropped away, King Temahalan's ship was caught by the tail-end of the beam and sent spinning out of control into the forest below. DeLoco eagerly awaited the explosion, but there came none. He realized the blast must have only knocked out the occupants of the ship and one of them had managed to land it safely.

But something had happened to Temahalan, that much was clear, for the Gigas gave a cry of frustration and tripped over itself, nearly toppling to the ground. It clutched at its head and whined and cried, fists clutching at and ripping away the trees beneath it. DeLoco observed its strange behavior and began to skirt around it in a broad circle, scanning for the place where the king had crash-landed, but suddenly the Gigas came back to life. It rose to its feet and, with a furious roar and eyes burning, began to decimate everything in its path.

DeLoco swallowed. He had made a very, very bad mistake.

* * *

All day and all night, without stopping for food or sleep, Vyse sailed the _Little Jack_ in the direction of Grendel's skinny form. They had watched from afar as they advanced the one-sided battle that waged on between the Armada and the Gigas, who was able to swat the slow-moving ships out of the sky with ease before they even had a chance to fire at him. The entire Fifth Fleet was nearly gone before they were ever close enough to even see any details of the fight.

DeLoco's _Chameleon_ was one of the only ships left, wearily circling the Gigas as it went on a rampage, destroying everything around it. Vyse didn't understand what was going on.

"Fina, why's the king ordering him to destroy _everything_?" he asked.

"He isn't. This isn't normal behavior for a Gigas. They don't go destroying things like this unless they've lost communication with their master." She blinked, clutching her hands over her chest. "S-something must have happened to King Temahalan. Something bad..."

"Wonderful..." Aika murmured. "You don't think he's dead, do you?"

"I don't know," Fina replied.

Vyse continued to observe the Gigas from afar as it took a backhanded swing at a battle cruiser that had gotten too close and splintered into nothingness. "That thing's huge...I think it might even be bigger than Recumen! How in the world are we supposed to defeat it?"

"He's been weakened by the Armada, that I can tell..." Fina said, observing some blue ichor seeping out from a few wounds the Gigas bore from being hit in the same place multiple times. "W-we might stand a chance."

Grendel turned and took a wild swing at DeLoco, beginning to advance on his hapless ship. The front of the _Chameleon_ opened and from within it fired an enormous beam of light into the Gigas' face. It bellowed and stumbled back, clutching at its head.

"So that's how he's lasted this long..." Vyse blinked. DeLoco was trapped. He couldn't advance because Grendel was in the way, and he couldn't retreat because Grendel would chase him. The giant's reach far exceeded that of Recumen's, that was for sure.

"Hey, boy." Drachma jerked his chin towards the window. "Look where we are. Canyon o'er there's awfully deep, innit?"

"What about it?" Aika asked.

But Vyse understood where the old man was coming from. "Do you think we can lure him over the edge?"

"I dunno about luring..." Drachma replied, "But that thing sure don't like hits to the head. Perhaps if we bop 'is noggin hard enough, he'll stumble over it. I don't care how strong 'e is, it'll hold 'im fer a while."

"Oh!" Fina's eyes widened. "Y-yes, that would work!"

"It'd certainly be easier than trying to search for the king..." Aika murmured. "We'd get trampled..."

"Let's go, then!" Vyse said, spinning the wheel until they were on a perfectly direct course with Grendel. "Time to take that thing down!"

By this time, DeLoco had noted their presence and flashed them a warning in Morse code: Touch the Gigas and we will fire. Vyse didn't understand why DeLoco would want that when _he_ was the one shooting at Grendel to begin with, but Fina pointed out that DeLoco wouldn't want the Gigas to die because Empress Teodora wanted to use him as a weapon. DeLoco, she reasoned, only wanted to stun Grendel enough so that he could land, take the crystal, and sail away with it safely, taking the Gigas with him.

Realizing there was no way around a confrontation, Vyse sent Aika to the top of the _Little Jack_'s cabin and had her signal a reply: Arm yourself. He diverted their course yet again and Drachma began to remove the panels and ready the cannons.

"I don't wanna fight this lunatic," he grumbled.

"If that cannon of his is strong enough to hurt a Gigas, then we'd better do our best to avoid it," Aika replied, as she slid back down from the roof. "One hit from that and we're dead."

"I'm sure that's the plan," Vyse said, with some sarcasm.

The _Chameleon_ noticed their approach and turned, opening the hatch for its powerful test cannon again. Grendel had noticed it turn away from him, however, and began to pursue it. DeLoco was forced to turn and fire the beam at him, instead, leaving the backside of his ship wide open. Vyse pulled the lever to launch the Harpoon Cannon, and that was all it took to send the _Chameleon_ hurtling to the ground in an explosion of moonstone dust and flame.

"He has the worst luck in the world," Vyse said, smirking.

"Oughta get himself a _real_ ship," Aika replied with an evil little grin.

"Don't celebrate just yet, whelps," Drachma said. "Now's where the challenge begins.

Grendel was momentarily confused as his target suddenly disappeared before he had even done anything to it. That was enough for the rest of the Fifth Fleet, who all turned tail and fled to the north as fast as they could, leaving the Gigas far behind. There were too many for him to figure out which one he'd like to chase, so instead his intense crimson gaze turned to the _Little Jack_ and he clenched his fists tightly. He stomped and screamed, uprooting trees and hurling them at the hapless whaling vessel. Vyse jumped as one whizzed by a little too close.

"There's two things the Armada did wrong that got 'em pulverized," Drachma noted, tightening his grip on the main cannon ropes. "One: they sat still. Easy targets for something that big. Two: the ones who did move weren't fast enough. Ever wonder why swattin' a fly is so damned difficult, boy? It's because we're too big and slow and they're too small an' fast. We need to apply that principle here and use it to our advantage."

"The _Little Jack_'s as fast as it's ever gonna get, thanks to Centime," he replied, nodding. "Let's go for it!"

In a fit of uncontrolled rage, Grendel came charging for them, his enormous feet trampling the forest and leaving imprints with each step. Vyse easily turned the ship and slid past him as he ran by, over his shoulder and past his ear, into which Aika fired a few shots. The _Lynx_'s cannons proved to be immensely powerful and the _Little Jack_ was splashed in blue ichor that came exploding out of the ear canal as it passed.

Cupil left to go squeegee off the windows again as Vyse turned the ship sharply to avoid being backhanded. He thought back to Belleza, how she seemed to read their every move and calculate their every attack. "Preparation is the key to victory," that's what she had told him. He wondered if he would be able to read Grendel's body language in time to avoid his attacks.

Grendel was furious now, irritated that his target was eluding him. He whirled around and snatched an entire island out of the sky, albeit a small one. Vyse gawked.

"Down! Drop down!" Aika cried.

Drachma hit Vyse hard in the back of his head with his good hand to knock him out of his shock. He dropped the ship just in time to avoid the mass of dirt and rock careening towards them at frightening speeds.

"He's hurling _islands_ at us!" he cried. To him, that was simply incomprehensible. One couldn't just _move_ an island so easily!

"Then don't get hit by one!" Drachma roared. "Keep movin'!"

Grendel charged them again and Vyse dropped the _Little Jack_ down, flying between the giant's bowed legs. He tried to catch the ship between his enormous hands by clapping them together, a sound that shook the windows and hurt their already wounded ears with its sheer volume, but he wasn't quick enough and the tiny whaling vessel was behind him again. He whirled around, flailing fists missing the ship narrowly, and was just in time to be delivered a few main cannon shots to the neck.

"Dammit! I missed," Drachma grumbled as Vyse pulled up again, away from reach.

"He's moving too erratically," Aika said, watching the Gigas throw another tantrum. "I can't hit him when you're dodging so much, Vyse."

"Consider the alternative," he replied.

"Let's try to get him closer to the edge of the cliff," Fina said. "W-we can work on it from there."

"Good idea." Vyse decreased their speed a little so the Gigas could catch up with them.

Grendel wasted no time at the opportunity, and lunged, flinging out a fist. It barely nicked the stern and Vyse winced as he heard it cave in, the ship tail spinning out of control. When it was steady again, he found that they were near the ground and Grendel was attempting to step on them. He pulled back just as the Gigas brought his foot down and the _Little Jack_ went between his toes. He tried again, and again, and Vyse struggled to position the _Little Jack_ so that each time it would slip between his toes when he stomped at them. The third time Vyse pulled forward and managed to get away.

He hurried to increase altitude, and Fina tried to ward off the Gigas by sending a few torpedoes his way. Each hit their mark, but simply caused minor irritations and only served to infuriate Grendel more.

Another hunk of land was hurled at them as they fled, and Vyse was barely able to dodge in time. The edge hit the main mast and snapped it off as if it were a mere toothpick, leaving a gaping hole in the _Little Jack_'s deck. Splinters of wood flew everywhere and threatened to shatter the windows.

Vyse circled around Grendel's leg and then his head, and soon the Gigas had lost track of them. Aika, Drachma and Fina managed to land a few more good shots to him, but they weren't in a stable enough position still to use the Harpoon Cannon. Grendel swatted at them irritably and still missed, far too slow for the tiny _Little Jack_.

Vyse began to notice the subtle movements in the rippling of Grendel's muscles beneath his taught green skin. He became able to predict the Gigas' moves quicker and was able to dodge his mad swipes with more distance between them. Progress was still slow, however, and after so much punishment from the _Lynx_'s cannons, Grendel collapsed to his knees and clutched at his head, moaning piteously.

"What's it doing?" Fina blinked. "This isn't normal behavior for a Gigas at all. His rage should be enough to blind him from his pain...that's how they were programmed."

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Aika said, eyes glued to the writhing green form before them. Vyse pulled the ship to a hover a good distance away and watched.

"No...wait..." Drachma peered out the window, narrowing his eye. "If he ain't actin' normally, now could be our chance. It looks like he's at his weakest point. Just a little closer, boy...until his toes're hangin' over the edge of the canyon."

Vyse turned the ship to the side and Aika and Drachma fired together just as Grendel picked the wrong time to lift his head. The cannonballs landed in his left eye and he shrieked, charging them madly at a speed Vyse didn't think he could manage.

Turning the _Little Jack_ on the spot, Vyse blasted off towards the canyon, Grendel pursuing them closely. They suddenly came to a grinding halt, however, as the Gigas reached out with one three-fingered hand and managed to ensnare the ship. Fina and Aika screamed as he pulled them back in his iron grip and lifted it up to his twisted face, half of which was covered in dark ichor from his destroyed eye. The tilt of the ship as he held it sent all of them tumbling to the back of the cavern.

Grendel roared again, showing the gaping cavern of his mouth and his pointed, fanglike teeth. Vyse struggled to his feet but the Gigas shook the ship hard, sending him crashing into the roof and then the floor a moment later, crying out as he felt his ribs crack. Cupil wrapped around Aika and Fina to cushion them from the impacts of the cabin, but ran out of elasticity to embrace Drachma as well and the old man was knocked out cold quicker than he had been when thrown by the Tricyclone. The back window shattered beneath the his weight and Vyse dove for him, catching him by his good arm and bracing himself against the wall.

"Aika! Fina! Help me!" he cried. "I'm not strong enough to pull him in on my own!"

"Vyse, no! I'll have Aika do it with Increm!" Fina cried. "You have to get us out of Grendel's grasp before he decides to crush the entire ship!"

Vyse heard the distinctive cracking and splintering of wood and realized the ship was trembling. Grendel was, indeed, beginning to squeeze it.

Aika lunged for Drachma as Fina chanted towards her and Vyse spun around to head for the helm. The grade of the floor was still too steep, however, and he slipped, sliding back down and injuring his ribs just that much farther. Down below, he heard the wings and the dorsal fins snap and the hull, despite Belleza's reinforcements, was beginning to give way. The ship was caving in and would soon splinter all over the place.

Vyse closed his eyes and focused, built up his anger and his adrenaline, and then got a running start. As he began to slide, he forced himself to take a painful breath and leap, lunging for the console at the helm. His strong legs, toned by months of moving crates around in the ship, propelled him forward and he reached out, wildly grabbing for the handle of the Harpoon Cannon. It gave way and he crashed against the ground, the ship jolting slightly as the massive spearhead fired from its bow.

Grendel had no time to react before there was a harpoon lodged in his skull, right in the eye that had already been destroyed. With a fearsome, blood-curdling howl, he released the _Little Jack_ in order to clutch at his face, stumbling forward in tortured pain. The ship began to fall and Vyse struggled to right it, pulling it into a weak hover just in time to avoid getting hit by one of the Giant's knobby knees. He staggered to the edge of the canyon and, off balance already because of his pain, toppled forward and plummeted over the edge. His shrill scream as he plunged into the water echoed throughout every every nook of the forest even after he was gone.

Before collapsing from sheer exhaustion and his own pain, Vyse looked back at the girls, bleeding and battered, and gave a weak smile. "Heh...Fina...I got him."


	17. Shooting Into the Darkness

It took a long time to get the _Little Jack_ repaired, mainly because two new masts and a full deck had to be crafted for it. The boards that had splintered in the frame and the hull had to be replaced and the metal armaments from Belleza's ship smoothed out and riveted back together. Centime and Hans worked with Drachma, Vyse and Aika and the work went fast, and before long the whaling vessel was back to its mint condition again. Drachma was thoroughly satisfied and offered to help Centime in turn, but the craftsman refused, insisting he wanted to stay in Ixa'Taka for a while longer.

"_You're_ the ones who need to get going quickly," he said, with a kind smile.

Though Aika had been disappointed to find no gold or any treasure whatsoever in Rixis, almost every villager from the entire continent showed up at one time or another to lavish Fina with gifts of gold, spices, and rare fabrics, to the point where there was no more room in the King's hut for them all. Fina, who found refusing these people even more difficult than putting up with their worshiping of her, graciously accepted the gifts and later gave away a good majority of them to the families who had a member or two being rescued from the mines. That which Aika insisted she keep was loaded onto the _Little Jack_ and added to their already extensive pile of treasure looted from the Temple of Pyrynn.

The day came when Fina began to get restless and the _Little Jack_ was done, however, so with Vyse, Aika and Drachma in her company, she approached King Temahalan, who had been knocked out in DeLoco's blast and saved by Isapa's quick actions. The King, now back in his rightful home of Horteka, received them warmly and Fina translated automatically everything that was said.

"Queyta, I am ashamed to be in the presence of you and your warriors," he said. "Forgive me once again for being a fool, for daring to lie to you and for dishonoring myself and my people."

A defeated Gigas apparently was enough to convince the king and his priests that she was Queyta after all.

"I understand what you were trying to do, but it was the wrong decision. You didn't consider all of the consequences of your actions," Vyse said.

"With great power comes great responsibility," Fina added. "That is why we must keep these crystals safe from human hands."

Temahalan nodded. "I see that now. Before you came, I was a child sitting on the throne of a man, given a country I was too young to hold by a father who died honorably trying to protect us from Valuan invasion so long ago. But today I sit here a man, a King ready to rule his country. I will not make the same mistake twice. Queyta, I fully entrust the Sacred Green Stone to you."

"To the north of here, in the canyon between our old hideout and Rixis, is an Iron Net, filled with the power of electricity," Isapa said. "The Valuans had erected it to prevent us from escaping to the oceans in the north, but since they have fled the lands now, they likely removed it to make their own escape. If you follow that canyon, you can leave Ixa'Taka without facing the winds of the South once more."

"That's North Ocean," Drachma said. "Takin' that'll lead us right back t'Valua."

"They're really mad at us now...getting the yellow crystal won't be easy. But they're scattered, so...I guess now's as good of a time as any." Vyse turned and smiled to his companions. "Ready to go?"

"Am I ever," Drachma rumbled.

* * *

It was rather hard for Vyse to leave Ixa'Taka. Though he had formed no strong relationships with anybody who lived there, he still felt attached to the wild sensations of the jungle and the free spirits of the people who dwelt within. He would have to return, someday, because he knew that wild feeling would never leave him.

It was a week or so before they were out of the jungles. Everyone was a little sad to leave its green embrace, even Drachma, Vyse could tell. Even when they had fully headed into the gray skies of North Ocean, he could still see the mighty peaks of Ixa'Taka rising high into the clouds, piercing them. There was so much more of that land left unexplored, untouched. He wanted to see it all.

In bleak contrast, North Ocean was a sea of swirling dark clouds and chill mists that blew down from Valua. It occasionally rained, which dampened the sails and rather slowed the _Little Jack_ down. Vyse had continued to wear his Ixa'Takan garb while in the jungle, but now in this cooler, wetter weather he changed back to his normal wear. Aika and Fina had previously done the same.

There were few islands that they passed; most of them had been almost immediately right off the Ixa'Takan coast. Occasionally, however, they would see long strips of land in the distance, where Vyse could barely make out the searching ray of a lighthouse beacon. Curious, he finally questioned Drachma one day as to the geography of the area.

"Cap'n?" he asked, looking over his shoulder from where he stood at the helm.

"Eyes on the sky, boy," Drachma grunted, not looking up from where he was currently charting their course. The old man had an uncanny ability to detect when Vyse was doing something he wasn't supposed to.

Vyse grinned and reverted his gaze to the ship's bow. "Captain, do you know this area very well? It doesn't seem to be very heavily settled."

"Heh! T'ain't," was Drachma's reply. "All this 'ere, ain't nothin' but territories o'Valua. See, North Ocean used to be just an independent confederation o'islands. At one point its people were allied with Meridia, but Valua took control o'the land some thirty years ago. Really, th' people here don't answer to nobody, they're just technically 'neath Valuan rule. Ain't much they can give to Valua out here, 'sides fish."

"So they're not a nation or anything? They don't have a capital?" Vyse asked.

Drachma shook his head. "Nope. All that's out here is a bunch o' burly seafarin' folk who love t'fish. Some legends say that they came from the far south, from the seas o'ice, after the Old World fell."

"Wow…" Vyse took a moment to imagine that, then smiled. "You sure know a lot about this place, Captain. Is there anything about Arcadia that you _don't_ know?"

"Haha…" Drachma actually laughed for once. "I grew up here, m'boy. Fought two wars, hunted in the Arcwhaling Run, even had m'own business at one point in time. Aye, this was my home an' always will be."

"No way!" Vyse laughed a little as well. "I had no idea, Cap'n! What was your life like here? What kind of business did you run?"

Drachma abruptly grunted, stood, and headed for the stairs. "None o'that's yer business, boy. Don't ask me that again."

Vyse blinked at Drachma's sudden mood swing. It wasn't uncommon for him, but the ferocity with which he said his words stunned the young rogue.

A few minutes later, Aika came up from the galley and came up beside him to gaze out the window, leaning far over to squint at an island shrouded in the foggy distance. "Hey, what's up with the Cap'n? Did you piss him off again?"

"Yeah, sorta." Vyse shook his head. "I asked him about his past and he said it was none of my business."

"Haha…typical." Aika rolled her dark eyes. "Don't take offense, Vyse, you know how he is. Fina and I almost have lunch ready, so that should cheer him up. It's deep fried Mantle Crab! He'll love it!"

"Mm."

"Vyse?"

"Heh, sorry…" Vyse turned and smiled wanly at her. "I'm just…wondering about the Captain now."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

He turned and looked back out the window, out towards the bow of the ship. The clouds were darkening again and threatening them with still more rain. "Something horrible must have happened in his past, Aika…it's haunting him, I can see it. I'm not sure what it is, but it must have something to do with North Ocean. He's uncomfortable here. Can't you tell? I wonder if he lost his arm out here or something?"

"Possibly. Do you think he's some sort of criminal?" she asked. "I mean, obviously he's no danger to us. We're criminals too, Vyse, but…Perhaps he did something bad out here, and they cut off his arm for it. I dunno…"

"No…he said North Ocean was his home. He grew up here and had a business…" Vyse furrowed his brow. "He never said anything about his family, though. I wonder if that has anything to do with it."

"You know…" Aika blinked. "He's never mentioned his family once. You and me and Fina…we've all talked about our families and our homes, but he's never said anything about a wife or a kid or even brothers and sisters. It's like he doesn't have any."

"Drachma was a very lonely man, I can tell that much." Vyse sighed. "I can tell it's a good thing he found us when he did. I know he appreciates our presence, much as he'd never admit it."

"Haha…that's so true." She elbowed him playfully. "Keep your chin up, Vyse, I'm sure we'll be able to help him out with his problems eventually. It's the least we can do for him letting us use his ship. In the meantime, you just wait for lunch, m'kay?"

Vyse chuckled a bit, though he still couldn't help but to feel at a loss. "Sure thing."

As it tended to do with its old equipment, the galley began to overheat and Vyse could hear Fina fretting below deck about the stove. He chuckled to himself as he heard her open up the porthole windows in the side of the ship to let some cold air in and the hot air out, and as she did the scent of what she was cooking wafted up to his nostrils. His stomach began to grumble quite insistently; whatever it was, it smelled delicious.

A breeze picked up, as if to aid them. It carried the scent away and off towards the north, in turn pushing the _Little Jack_ forward at a slightly faster pace. The clouds loomed closer now, and Vyse locked the wheel into place, going to the deck so that he might furl up the sails. The winds were strong out on the deck, and in their favor; he hated having to roll the sails up now with such a beneficial current, but figured it would shift soon enough with the oncoming storm.

He scaled the main mast to the crow's nest to get a better look at the storm. At the current rate the _Little Jack _was sailing, they'd be into it within the next half hour or so. He couldn't see any moon on any horizon, not even the green one anymore, which gave him a strange, uneasy feeling of isolation. Oddly enough, North Ocean received moonstones from four moons: green, yellow, blue, and silver. He didn't see how it was possible.

As he prepared to slide back down to the deck to undo the rigging, something caught his eye. A ship had materialized out of the clouds not too far off in the distance, one the shape of DeLoco's U-boat, but one that also had sails atop it. Vyse hadn't passed any ships at all in North Ocean; most of them seemed to stick close to the islands. So who was this person so obviously sailing their way?

Vyse regained his perch and zoomed in on the awkward ship in the distance. It was orange and shaped like a big fish, with black sails billowing from the top of it.

"…Crap," he murmured.

He swung down from the nest using one of the rigging ropes, landing solidly on the deck. Quickly, he rushed beneath it into the hull and almost bumped into Aika and Fina bringing up their afternoon meal.

"Whoa! Where's the fire?" Aika asked.

"There's Black Pirates in the distance, headed right for us," he replied. "Where's the Captain?"

"Black Pirates?! Here?" Aika groaned. "Geez, they infect Arcadia everywhere. The Cap'n's in his room. Here, I'll go get him. Help Fina put the food back in the galley so it doesn't get ruined in our fight, please?"

Vyse nodded and did so.

A few minutes later they were back on deck, and Drachma was at the window right away to try and discern who was coming at them. After a few moments of peering through his spyglass, he grunted irritably.

"Well, at least we won't have t'worry about damage to the ship."

"Why's that?" Vyse asked.

"That ship there's the _Bloodlust_. Man named Gordo captain's it. They call him the Gourmet Pirate." Drachma looked over to him. "He attacks other ships an' steals their food. He rarely fires his cannons at another ship 'cause he's afraid he'll burn somethin' edible. As far as Black Pirates go, he's a strange one."

"So he's gonna challenge us to hand-to-hand combat?" Aika asked.

Drachma nodded. "Aye. We could probably avoid 'im by firing, but then he'd likely fire back. Personally, I'm tired o'damaging the ship an' wastin' cannonballs. We might as well beat 'im up on board."

"Heh. Sounds good to me! Should I anchor the ship?" Vyse asked.

"Aye," Drachma replied.

Vyse locked the fins and the wheel and pulled the lever that dropped the anchor. By this time, the _Bloodlust_ had pulled right up alongside them and attached itself to the _Little Jack_ by the means of a couple mooring ropes, and they could see a couple men in purple chef's outfits boarding.

"I won't ask…" Aika muttered.

They hurried below deck to grab their weapons, then went outside, only to be assaulted with frying pans. Vyse had never seen anything so bizarre.

"What kind of fighting pirates are—" He was cut off as he nearly took a blow to the head.

"Get 'em, boys! No mercy!" a deep voice cried from by the bow.

Vyse looked up to see a giant Valuan man standing there. Portly didn't describe him; he was greatly rotund, almost completely round in body shape. In contrast, his arms and legs looked short and skinny, dwarfed as they were by his outrageously large belly. His head was equally as round looking, and he really lacked any sort of neck or shoulders. He had the wrinkles and scars of a veteran pirate, but his black hair was receding along his scalp and his bar mustache was beginning to gain hints of silver. He was dressed as if he was ready for the dinner table, not for battle. He did wield a butcher knife, however, which made him plenty dangerous.

Nobody had a chance to talk. The band of purple chefs – there were four – were upon Drachma and his crew in an instant. In one mighty swing, Drachma knocked two of them back with his artificial arm alone and handled them from there. Aika assaulted the third, and Fina stepped back, mentally communicating with Cupil, who turned himself into a sword and took on the fourth. Vyse noticed that Gordo was hanging back and not really doing anything, so he attacked. Gordo blocked him easily with his butcher knife and a bottle of loqua.

"This has gotta be a joke!" he cried out, as his cutlass bounced off the glass.

Gordo laughed triumphantly, taking a swing at him with the knife. Vyse blocked it with the cutlass in his offhand and parried away. "You'll surrender all of your food over to me or else!"

"Or else what? We're no passenger vessel! We barely have enough food on here for ourselves!" Vyse replied.

"You're a fishing ship. That's good enough!" Gordo replied.

"We're a _whaling_ vessel!" Vyse replied, taking another swing. Again, Gordo blocked without much movement. "And I assure you, we haven't seen an Arcwhale in about a year."

One chef screamed as Drachma tossed him overboard.

"Hmph. Your grandpa fights well, boy," Gordo said, swinging the knife at Vyse's feet, and the bottle at his head. It was all the rogue could do to roll backwards. "He'll live to a hundred if you just surrender your goods."

"He's not my grandpa, he's the owner of this ship and you've every right to fear him," Vyse replied. This time he dove for Gordo's feet and, being too obese to move fast enough, the black pirate was sufficiently toppled. He crashed heavily to the deck and Vyse implanted the heel of his boot into his back to keep him there, brushing the edge of his main cutlass against his neck. "No moving now. Game's over, get off our ship."

"Wah!" Gordo covered his head with his hands and began to tremble. "I'm done for!"

"Boss! Are you alright?" one of the chefs asked.

"You'd better surrender!" Aika said, with a smirk.

"We do, we do!" Gordo cried. "J-just let me up, please!"

Vyse stepped back and Gordo rolled over. His remaining chefs rushed to his side and pulled him to his feet, then crowded around him like bodyguards. All of them rubbed the back of their necks sheepishly.

"Heh…You and your crew fought well…" Gordo said, beginning to inch away. "You fight particularly well for a kid. You must be that Vyse then, right? I've never seen you in North Ocean before…"

"This is the first time we've been in North Ocean…" Vyse replied. "For now we're traveling aboard Captain Drachma's ship, the _Little Jack_."

"Drachma? Really!" Gordo turned to look at Drachma, who frowned at him bitterly. "I've heard a lot of stories about you. You've been in North Ocean before, haven't you?"

"…So what if I was?" Drachma demanded, coldly. His face was dead solemn, something Vyse knew was a bad sign.

"Are the stories true, then?" Gordo asked, earnestly. "You're hunting the Arcwhale Rhaknam, right? If I remember correctly it was to avenge your son?"

Drachma suddenly filled with rage, clenching his teeth and his fists. He hammered his artificial fist against the main mast and roared at the black pirate. Vyse and Aika jumped, and Fina was so scared that she gasped and ducked behind him. "ENOUGH! I don't know what stories you've been hearin' but I suggest you keep them to yerself. Now get off my ship before I throw the rest o'you overboard."

"Ah…yes…we were just leaving, eheheh…" Gordo grinned guiltily, and began to hustle back to his ship, gesturing for his remaining chefs to follow. They were quick to remove the moorings with them and before long the _Bloodlust _was puttering off at top speed. Drachma then turned and affixed his cold glare to Vyse, Aika and Fina.

"And what are the three of you starin' at?! Get back on deck before I throw _you_ overboard!" He pounded his fist against the mast again, making them all wince and then altogether stand up straight.

"Y-yessir!" Vyse and Aika cried, running back into the cabin. Fina bowed, apologized, bowed again, and left.

The three ate their lunch in silence while Drachma locked himself up in his room. Fina's already large green eyes were wide and soft, and she poked at her food in a depressed manner as they sat on the bridge together.

"D-did we do…something bad…?" she quietly asked, at last. "I…I don't want to be punished, I didn't know it was bad..."

"No, Fina, none of us knew about it." Vyse set his fork down and looked up at the two girls, frowning. "Now this is starting to make sense though. I knew he had to have a family. I knew there was something dark in his past."

"Rhaknam killed his son? Rhaknam…ate him?" Aika asked, setting her own silverware down with unease. "Did he try to eat Drachma too, and only ate…his arm?"

"It's unclear, but Rhaknam is obviously the source of his vendetta…" Vyse began to poke at his own food as well. "He's not willing to talk about it, though. Damn him for being so stubborn!"

"If…if he won't tell us what's wrong, how can we help?" Fina asked.

"That's the thing. We can't." Vyse sighed. "We can't ask him, or we'll only set him off. I guess we'll just have to wait. It'll come out eventually, and then he'll tell us. Otherwise, it will eat him away from the inside until he's torn apart."

"Oh my…that's awful. I wish he didn't have to suffer so…" Fina looked deflated. "I hope he will come to us soon…"

* * *

Ramirez awoke, panting and sweating, pale, graceful fingers clutching at the red velvet sheets of his bed. Where was he? Where was this place? It was dark, but it wasn't the Shrine. He had had a nightmare, a nightmare of himself slaying his sister, and of the Shrine plummeting towards Arcadia in a ball of fire. It horrified him, and then…

And then he steeled himself. A dream, a worthless pathetic dream that did not concern him, that's what it was. He rolled out of bed and headed for the window, looking out at the black sky and yellow moon, and the dark outlines of the mountains slowly passing beneath him. They were quite a few leagues north of Madera, to the point where he could not see it illuminating the southern skies anymore. The 'light pollution' of the city was extensive. These pathetic Island Dwellers had completely archaic technology…

_I could have helped them_… Ramir thought, gazing sadly up at the moon. _I could have enlightened them to our ways, as my people did with the other lands in the Old World. I could teach them how to truly harness moonstone power and how to advance themselves in ways far more positive than Valua is now. It is not too late. It is not too…too late…_

Oh, but it was, Ramirez assured him. He had left his cloistered life behind long ago and now was a whole new person. There was no such thing as redemption or second chances. There was no going back. He was Ramirez, not Ramir, First Admiral of the Valuan Imperial Armada!

The two sides of him, Ramir and Ramirez, fought constantly for control. He was losing a part of his mental prowess, slowly but surely, and he couldn't determine why. That alone frustrated him to the point of rage, as it was the only weakness he really had. If he could only purge that weakness, he would be a perfect warrior.

Grunting, Ramirez turned and opened the metal trunk at the foot of his bed, digging out a fresh uniform of red and black. He removed his sleeping garments and pulled the close-fitting suit over his agile frame. He buckled a vest over it, then jammed his long legs into his boots and buckled his sword around his waist. It was the finest of Silvite blades, forged from pure moonlight. Nothing was sharper, nothing was keener, nothing was more deadly.

It was the middle of the night, but he didn't care. Purposefully, he strode from his cabin and headed up to the bridge, where the night crew was lounging about at their controls. Noting this, Ramirez crept in stealthily, keeping to the shadows, and came up behind the Second Officer in charge during the night. He formed a silver spell in his hand, creating a dagger of pure light in his palm, and plunged it into the officer's back. He made a gawking noise in surprise and then crumpled to Ramirez's feet. The entire bridge whirled around and looked at him, frozen in terror.

"I do not like people who are…lax…in their duties," Ramirez said, coldly. "You will get back to work and you will do it immediately. We are chasing no normal Arcwhale here and you very well know that. Failure to comply means death."

The crew quickly snapped back to their controls, working over-diligently as if their jobs were the most interesting ever.

"Esteban is the new night officer," he went on, stepping up to his command platform, and sinking into the seat there. "Esteban, I trust you will not let me down as Manuel did."

"Ah…no, sir. I would never dream of it…" Esteban replied, in a trembling voice. He left his post to go take Manuel's.

"Vicente, what's the status of the skies?" Ramirez demanded. "Where in the nine hells is that Arcwhale?"

"It…it hasn't shown up on the radar all night, sir…" the navigator replied. "We've just been sailing in circles in this fog for hours."

"What? Fog!" Ramirez rose to his feet and looked outside at the mist roiling around them. How had he not noticed it before?

_You were too caught up in yourself…_ Ramir told him.

Ramirez angrily shoved his alter ego away.

"Imbeciles! Radar doesn't work in the fog! He could probably hear our sonar from leagues away and is avoiding us!"

"Radar doesn't work in fog?" Vicente blinked. "How do you know that?"

"I know far more about technology and the world in general than you could ever hope to learn in your miserable lifetime," Ramirez replied, pointing at him. "Turn off the radar this instant. Turn on the low-level search lights and start looking for him. He surrounds himself in this fog, you know that."

"Aye, sir…"

"Somebody radio the other three battleships, tell them to do the same."

"Aye, sir."

Normally Ramirez would have had reservations about killing a creature such as this Arcwhale. Under most circumstances, the technology of the Island Dwellers, even that of Valua, would have been too underdeveloped to manage enough firepower to so much as nick the beast. But advancements had come quickly and DeLoco had created canons with considerable force, enough to pierce this "Rhaknam's" hardened skin. His own flagship, the _Monoceros_, was the second most advanced in the fleet, and that was saying a lot.

"Admiral Ramirez, we just received word from _Soñadora_," a radio officer said. "The wreckage of the _Obispo _was found twenty leagues northwest of here, encased in ice. The whale must have just passed through there."

"Get the latitude and longitude and change our bearings," Ramirez ordered. "We're not the only ones chasing this thing. The sooner we find it and keep it out of the hands of those filthy air pirates, the better. They don't have a clue what they're hunting. They're just taking shots in the dark."

* * *

It was hard to tell night from day in Valua. Vyse supposed that those who had lived there a while managed it well enough, but as it was he couldn't discern for himself. He had heard some of the pirates back at home say that the sun only came out once or twice a year, and that it was only for a couple of hours. He couldn't imagine such a thing. Having the sun beaming down upon him was one of the things he loved about standing at the helm, or in the crow's nest.

With the favorable winds, they had reached the lower coast of northern Valua in five weeks' time. Vyse supposed some of that was owed to the _Lynx_'s engine as well. Now, as they sailed through a valley in between the jagged, impassable mountains that the land was infamous for, he tried to detect any signs of ancient ruins, anything hinting of where the crystal might be buried. Sitting on the shed at the tip of the bow, which now housed the steam engine for the Harpoon Canon, he had a good enough view without subjecting himself to the coldness of the crow's nest, though his search was proving fruitless.

All above him was nothing but sky, with roiling clouds of the darkest black. Only rarely could he see the yellow moon through a small hole in them, and when that happened the moon looked dirty and polluted, muted as it was by the haze. The land was barren and rocky for the most part, the soil tinged yellow due to centuries and centuries of moonstones burrowing into it. Again he had to marvel at the sheer mass of Valua's majestic, craggy mountains, which towered so high into the clouds that no ship could hope to fly over them. Faint mists swirled about them to give them an eerie air.

With footsteps so light he couldn't even hear them at first, Fina came up behind him and shyly tapped on the side of the shed. He turned, surprised to see her there with Cupil bobbing around her head, but smiled nevertheless.

"Hey! Does the captain want me back on the bridge or something?"

"Uhm…n-no…" Fina shook her head slightly. "I just…I wanted to come see what you were looking at. Captain Drachma still isn't talking; he's just standing there at the helm and steering with…with an empty look on his face. And Aika went to go take a nap, so I was kind of lonely and…and thought maybe…I could sit here with you?"

Vyse grinned, then scooted over a bit, offering a hand down to the Silvite girl. "Of course. I don't mind the company, not that there's much to see out here anyway. Can you climb up, or do you want me to give you a boost?"

"I think I can do it…" Hesitantly, Fina took his hand, then lifted her leg and rested a foot on one of the door handles of the shed. Using that for a foothold, she then hefted herself up and nearly tottered over backwards as a result. Vyse kept his hold on her firm, however, and with some more difficulty she was finally able to climb onto the roof and join him there. "I…I did do it! I'm getting stronger, finally!"

"Being on a ship can whip anyone into shape," he said, laughing.

"Oh, yes. Your lives here…everyone works so very hard. You have to, but…it seems to be good for you." Fina smiled.

"You mean you didn't work hard at home?" Vyse was confused.

"Oh!" Fina lifted a delicate hand to her mouth in a giggle. "No, I didn't mean to make it sound like that. We work hard, but in a different way. Here…here everyone employs physical labor to get work done. In the Silver Shrine, we create things to do those tasks for us, and then spend the rest of the day in leisure."

"Work _is _leisure, here," Vyse replied, with a grin. "People choose their jobs and do them because they like them. Like me and Aika, for example. We didn't _have_ to become air pirates just because our parents were, but we loved the thrill of it and it's become our lifestyle. When we go out to work…to maintain the ships, or to pirate others…it's just a game for us. It's fun!"

"I admit, I _have_ taken a liking to it. It's exciting!" Fina beamed. "The work is busy, but…but it's fulfilling."

"Well, we don't work _all_ day, you know," Vyse said with a grin. "Back at home, on Pirate Isle, we took days off just to have fun every moon – and we'd do it after a particularly good raid too, usually. We'd sing and dance and everyone would make their specialty foods and bring their best loqua. After that, we'd tell stories, either old legends of the sea, or just gossip we'd heard…and by that time most of Dad's sailors would be drunk, so we could play darts or blind man's bluff with them and they'd be hilariously horrible at it. Haha, it was great. I hope I can return to those times soon." He turned to look at her. "How about you? What do Silvites do in their spare time?"

"Silvites…?" Fina didn't look like she had been prepared for the question, and she thought for a minute before smiling. "A lot of us read, or study magic. When we get the chance, we meditate to focus ourselves and to focus on the energies from the moon, since it is so close to us. Some of us raise little gardens, and others play games of strategy, like chess. Occasionally there will be music playing, though it starts rather randomly unless it's a holiday. Those who own ships…the ones who come to the planet to get us more food and water…they usually fly around where they want to."

Vyse blinked at her last few words. "Come to the planet? For food and water? What do you mean?"

"Oh…uhm…" Fina took a moment to choose her next words carefully. After a bit, she called Cupil over to her and had him hover between the two of them. "Pretend Cupil is Arcadia—"

"But Cupil's round."

"Yes?"

"The world is flat…"

"Oh my…" Fina giggled. "No, Vyse, the world is round! East connects to west and north connects to south! I thought that rumor had died with the Old World."

Vyse simply blinked. "You're kidding me. There's no end to the world? It just…loops? How is that possible?"

"Because it is a sphere, just like Cupil sort of is," Fina explained. "Let me see…ah." She took off one of her earrings and held it up a little away from Cupil, allowing it to just dangle there. "This is the silver moon. It hovers above the islands of Arcadia, so far up that the sky is black instead of blue, so high up that it is always nighttime. My people call this 'outer space.'" She held up a finger close to the earring. "My finger is the location of the shrine. We are hovering in outer space where no ship except our own can reach us. Because we're so high up, food can not grow and there is no water, so we must send ships down to the islands—" and she pointed to Cupil "—to get them for us."

"So that's what you meant by floating houses!" Vyse was amazed, and tried to absorb all of the information she had just given him at once. "So…from up there…where you live with the moons…you can see the entire world?"

Fina nodded, with a little smile. "Yes. And that is how we know it is round. You wanted to know what lies beyond the sky. Well…that is it. Outer space, as far as we know, is endless."

Vyse baffled over that in silence for quite some time. "So…what exactly should we be looking for, here?" he asked, finally. "To find the crystal, I mean."

"The architecture of the Yellow Civilization is very distinct, for all its simplicity," Fina replied. "For the most part, all of the peoples of the Yellow Civilization lived underground. It was only later in the centuries before the Rains that they started building settlements on the surface, where Madera is today. The underground cities have been abandoned for eons, but are still in tact as far as we know. A ring of standing stones marked the entrance to each underground city. Only one such ring remains, and it was the biggest of them all. It marks a holy place where the people of the Yellow Civilization worshiped their sacred animal, the Tartas. It is called the Maw of Tartas."

"And that's where the crystal is?" he asked.

Fina nodded. "And where the Yellow Gigas is sealed away. My people call him Yeligar. The Yellow Civilization knew him as Delphinus, a name ironically given to much gentler sea creatures later on."

The hours passed, and still they saw nothing. Vyse and Fina sat together until Aika drug them in for dinner, whereupon Vyse shared his recently gained knowledge with her. Drachma still didn't make an appearance. Eventually they anchored the ship and went to bed.

The next morning passed in a similar fashion. Fina admitted that she didn't know exactly where the Maw of Tartas was, just that it was at the foot of the tallest mountain in Valua. They were all tall, Aika pointed out. Towards the end of the day, however, when they were just about to have dinner once more, Vyse spied something from the helm, illuminated in a flash of lightning. The rain was battering down on them hard and he could barely see, but each time the lightning flashed, brilliantly lighting up the sky for preciously mere seconds, he saw it. There was no mistaking it. It was a ring of standing stones large enough in diameter to fit twelve Valuan battleships in.

Fina was elected to go downstairs to fetch Drachma while Vyse began to lower their altitude and scouted the craggy, barren, soaked earth for a safe place to land. He noticed there was a large fissure somewhat nearby where the earth had been torn into a gaping chasm by one of Valua's many earthquakes, but other than that there was no place that could safely moor the _Little Jack_. He settled for anchoring it in a sheltered crevice of the fissure as close to the ring as he could get and then went downstairs to go prepare the lifeboats. Aika, Fina and Drachma were there waiting for him.

They split up, the males in one lifeboat, the females in another, and began the long sail towards the Maw. The winds were rough on the little boats and the relentless pouring of the rain did little to help them either, but they made it within the hour and brought the tiny craft to a landing. There, Vyse found himself overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of the Stonehenge surrounding him, and of the enormous metal seal at his feet, filling the space between it.

"Uhm…what's this?" Aika asked, tapping a foot against the wet metal.

"Oh no…it's Mithril…" Fina sighed, crouching down to place a tiny hand against the elaborately decorated seal. "It's the strongest alloy known to man, lightweight but nearly indestructible. My people make it for our ships, and for repairs to the shrine. It is created by combining liquid Velorium with silver moonstone alloy."

"Sooo…?" Aika asked.

"So nothing short of a Gigas can actually break this seal."

Vyse gaped. "You've got to be kidding me. There's no way in?"

Fina stood, shaking her head. "The _Little Jack_ does not have enough power to so much as dent this alloy, and I can tell the seal is several feet thick. It likely is embedded deep within the earth. After the Rains, Yeligar was still on a rampage. Silvite mages came and put him into a deep slumber, then sealed him within here. His chaotic nature prompted them to make something this strong -- it was necessary. But I was hoping there'd be an alternative way inside…"

"So we can't get in…but at least the Gigas can't get out." Aika sighed. "You know, I'm surprised Valua hasn't tried to turn this place into a crater. Where are the guards, anyways? The crystal's right here under their nose, but they don't seem too concerned about it."

"Can you blame them?" Vyse asked, tapping a foot pointedly against the seal.

"Erheh…good point." She winced a little.

"Freeze!" a voice suddenly shouted, in Valuan. Vyse felt a bayonet stick in his back and quickly grew rigid, glancing around with his eyes to try and locate his assailant. He noticed armored Valuan soldiers behind Fina and Aika as well. "The punishment for trespassing on the Sacred Grounds is death!"

Fina squeezed her eyes shut. All but the guard behind Vyse dropped to the ground, asleep. "Please don't threaten my friends…"

"You! You're—" Vyse's guard stepped back, voice shocked, belying the expression hidden behind his helmet. "The boy! The pirate at the coliseum..." He abruptly dropped to his knees, trembling. "I've heard of you! Oh please, don't kill me!"

"Tell us how to open the seal and we'll let you live," Aika demanded.

"The seal?" The soldier's voice was incredulous. "Our entire army couldn't open it – and believe me, we've tried! We haven't been concerned about the yellow crystal because it's already in Valua and safe from…from you!"

"Hm. Makes sense. They'd go after the other ones first…" Drachma mused.

"Something's not right…" Vyse took another look around at his surroundings. "If that's true, then where are the rest of your men?"

"They're preparing for the raid on Nasrad…" the guard replied.

Aika gasped. "What? Valua is starting another war with Nasr?"

"_Yo creo_…that is, I think so, yes. I'm just a grunt, so I don't know the details…" the guard replied. "And lately, there's been sightings of a giant Arcwhale. It's been obliterating all of our ships in the area. One of our Admirals is hunting it."

Drachma snapped to attention. "What?! Rhaknam is here? Answer me!"

"I'm not sure! All I know is that this fog rolled in and there were sightings of a huge creature!" the guard replied, trembling.

"…That means he's still in the area." Drachma stepped back, then turned to regard Vyse, his stare cold and hard. "I been following you kids around chasin' crystals…but now it's your turn to follow me. Rhaknam's the reason I got the Harpoon Cannon in the first place. I'm gonna kill him…or die tryin.'"

Vyse nodded, slowly. "We'll be with you the whole way, Captain."

"Let's get movin' then. We should get into position before nightfall, whenever the hell that is…" Drachma turned and began to head for the lifeboats. "Free the guard or kill him, I don't give a damn."

"Take your men back to your ship and leave here. Don't tell anyone about us or we'll find you and kill you," Vyse told the guard, playing on his obvious fear of the four of them. As they walked away, Fina stared at him with wide eyes and said, "We'd never do that!"

"I know, but we had to be safe…" he replied, helping her back into the boat.

When they had returned to the _Little Jack_, Drachma decided that it was best to stay anchored there until the first sign of fog. It would be the perfect ambush, he said. After a quick dinner, everyone went to bed early and that was that…or so Vyse thought. He found he could not sleep however, and spent hours stirring in his hammock in an attempt to get comfortable. After a while, he finally gave up and rolled out of bed, not even bothering to put anything on over his boxers. He simply wandered out and hoped the girls weren't awake as well.

The quiet, rhythmic humming of Belleza's engine grew faint behind him as he climbed the stairs to the next level. Here he wandered into the galley and found that the liquor cabinet had been left open and the strongest bottle of loqua they had was left out. Drachma had obviously been drinking, and Vyse hoped it wasn't heavily. He moved to cork the bottle back up and lock it away in the cabinet, and noticed that some cookies had been nibbled at on the counter. Apparently either Aika or Fina had been up earlier as well.

Vyse considered the cabinet and refrained from locking it after all. His dad would always drink a few glasses of rum if he couldn't sleep, and usually that knocked him out. Vyse chose a milder blend and pulled a few gulps straight from the bottle. It was bittersweet and tingled in his mouth, but welcome to his uptight body. Still holding the drink, he went to go peek out the nearest porthole and discovered to his surprise that the sky was clear and he could see the stars and yellow moon perfectly. The _Little Jack_ had been drifting and they were now quite a ways away from the Maw of Tartas as far as he could tell. It was a wonder they hadn't hit anything.

He sat there for a while atop the counter, thinking and drinking and staring out the window at the landscape slowly floating past, wondering what the day would bring. Rhaknam's size easily rivaled that of the Gigas; he wondered if the Arcwhale's power was on a similar level. He had only gotten a glimpse of Rhaknam during their first encounter, but it was enough to give Vyse a good idea of just how immense the creature really was. He began to wonder what they were really up against. In the end, he concluded that, if Drachma had lasted this long against such a titan, he couldn't be as overwhelmingly powerful as the Gigas were.

It had been a while since he had seen a clear, nighttime sky, between the mists of Ixa'Taka, and the clouds of both North Ocean and Valua itself. Finally putting the bottle away, Vyse rose to his feet and decided to go watch the stars until the alcohol began to take effect. To his surprise, however, when he opened the door from the cabin to the deck, he found that he wasn't the only person there.

Far on the other end of the ship, towards the bow, Drachma sat slouched on a crate, clutching something in his good arm. A candle sat on a battered tin bucket beside him, providing scant illumination as he bowed his head to the skies below. Normally such a proud, strong man, it was discouraging to Vyse to see him so slumped and deflated now. Quietly, apprehensively, he came up beside the old man, but Drachma didn't make a move.

"…Captain?"

"…'At you, boy?" Drachma turned only slightly to look back over his shoulder. "What're you doin' out here? Should be gettin' some rest."

"I was about to say the same for you. It's the middle of the night." Vyse pulled up another crate and sat down beside him, only then noticing what it was Drachma was holding. It was a little keepsake box, lined with leather on the outside. The old fisherman cradled it sadly. "What's that?"

Drachma stared down at the box momentarily, then handed it to Vyse. "…Open it."

Vyse hesitated as he took the box, looking from it to Drachma and back again. Finally, with extreme care, he opened it up and took a peek inside. Within was a pile of multicolored feathers, some quite exotic in appearance. "It's full of…feathers?"

"My son collects…used to collect those…" Drachma said.

Vyse looked up quickly. "So Gordo was right?"

Drachma sighed, leaning back and casting his gaze to the sky. "Aye. A long time ago…I had a son. Was my only child, an' his mother died real young of cholera, so he was all I had left of a family. Was about your age. His name was…was Jack. He was a small lad, but always eager to help out. The other sailors on my fishin' ship called him 'Little Jack'. See…I used to run a fishin' boat out in North Ocean…my business was one o'the best out there. We were successful an' everythin' was great…until Rhaknam came along. We sorely underestimated his power and attacked him, hoping to retrieve his blubber to sell. From a whale that big, it would've been a monstrous profit we could've lived off of for years. But all we did was sail ourselves into a wall. Rhaknam obliterated our ship like it was nothin'. My crew flew everywhere like little rag dolls, plummeting into the clouds." He closed his eye then, and bowed his head, his voice becoming unsteady. "Last time I saw Jack, he was clutchin' those feathers as he fell…as if they'd stop him. I can still hear him screamin'…It haunts my dreams every night."

"Captain, I…" Vyse was at a loss, especially as he saw a lone tear roll down Drachma's cheek.

"But Rhaknam…he wouldn't let me die. He caught me an' pushed me to the nearest island, where they found me three days later. Boy, that whale…" He turned and looked Vyse in the eye. "He talks to me. I can hear his voice in my head, clear as day. Either he's toyin' with me, or I've truly gone senile."

"He…no, you can't be crazy. Fina says she can talk to Cupil…in her mind. It must be something similar…" Vyse insisted.

"You remind me…a lot of Jack. I want you to keep that box, boy…" was all Drachma responded with.

Together they sat in silence for a while, Vyse staring at the box, Drachma staring at the sky. Though neither said a word, they bonded faster in those hours of silence than they had their entire journey. Dawn was beginning to streak the horizon in a very pale pinkish-brown strip and the clouds had pretty much reclaimed Valua's skies when the fog rolled in. As one, Vyse and Drachma leapt to their feet.

"This fog! Could it be…?"

"Boy…go wake the others. It's time."

Vyse had never moved so fast in his life. He dashed below deck and roused both Aika and Fina rather boisterously, but it was enough to get them moving quickly. Within minutes they were dressed and on the bridge, preparing their stations. Drachma had the main cannons ready and the helm waiting for Vyse. As he approached the wheel, a familiar, hauntingly melodic call filled the air, soon followed by an immense crash of thunder and lightning that made the ship's timbers tremble.

"He ain't far. Top speed, boy! For something his size, he's incredibly fast," Drachma ordered.

"Aye aye!"

In a few deft movements, Vyse had the _Little Jack_ moving at full speed. The mountains around them whizzed past in a blur as they rocketed around a bend in the fissure and then out of it. Leveling the arcwhaling vessel out, Vyse forced himself to slow as the fog suddenly became four times thicker. He couldn't see around him in any direction.

"He surrounds himself with a thick fog and knocks ships outta the sky 'fore they even see him comin'," Drachma murmured. "Lemme see if I can't find him."

"Find him?" Fina asked.

"Aye. As you'd find Cupil."

She gasped. A moment later, the two of them jumped and stared out the window incredulously.

"I-I heard him!" Fina cried. "'Help me…help me…'"

"That's what he said…" Drachma finished for her. "Yer good with empathy, girl."

"What's wrong?" Aika asked, blinking, watching as Cupil began to react and bounce around the cabin frantically. "What could get Rhaknam into trouble?"

Everyone remained in a silent stupor. She had a point. There was very little that an Arcwhale bigger than some islands could handle.

They were answered moments later by a volley of cannon fire. The explosions lit up the fog with a dirty orange glow and it was then they could see the enormous silhouette of Rhaknam swimming straight for them.

"Wah!" Aika cried.

The fog abruptly dissipated as Rhaknam made a turn that was incredibly agile for something of his size. He passed right by the _Little Jack_, nearly brushing it with his skin, and it was for the first time that anyone got an idea of how truly massive he really was. His mass clouded the windows; they could see the leathery detail of his violet-hued skin, with veins of copper-laced gold running through it. Droplets of water were beaded all over it, and they sprinkled off as ice, leaving a powdery snow in his wake. His blood-red eye more than filled up the porthole; they could see its dark pupil, expanded wide in distress, and the moisture glimmering within. It was the first time they had actually seen Rhaknam as a living, breathing creature.

Gathering his senses, Drachma looked out the helm windows and noticed three ships in the distance, all distinctly Valuan. Two were battle cruisers. One was a sleek black and red vessel with a wickedly pointed bow that was obviously a flagship.

"Who'n the hell is chasin' Rhaknam?! Bah! It must be that Admiral the guard spoke about!"

"Which admiral is that?" Aika asked, blinking. "I don't recognize the ship."

"Me neither…I-I saw all of the flagships in Valua. It sort of resembles Galcian's though…" Fina replied.

"When we were still in Valua, I heard that the Armada's chain o'command had been altered," Drachma said, frowning. "Admiral Alfonso was stripped of his command of the First Fleet. It was given to Galcian's vice captain, Ramirez, instead."

Fina gasped. "Ramirez?!"

"Fina? What's wrong?" Aika stared at her in concern.

"Oh…n-nothing. It's…nothing." Fina shook her head and turned away.

"What do we do, Captain?" Vyse asked, dashing to the helm and steering the _Little Jack_ out of the way as one of the battleships fired at them. He watched as the other one and Ramirez's flagship shot at Rhaknam. Each cannonball hit and exploded, burying itself deep in the Arcwhale's skin. A slimy gray liquid began to seep out from his wounds.

"Take out them battleships first," Drachma ordered. "Just harpoon 'em! Leave Ramirez alone for now. We can't have 'em gettin' in our way."

Vyse nodded and swung the _Little Jack_ around. Far faster than the Valuan vessels, he managed to get perpendicular to them and pulled the lever for the Harpoon Cannon. With a hiss, it fired and hit the first ship, which, lacking the armaments of a flagship, was thoroughly obliterated on contact. The harpoon kept going and pierced the other battleship as well, tearing it to flaming pieces.

"Excellent! That should be enough t'get Ramirez to retreat," Drachma said, pushing Vyse away from the helm. "Boy, you take the main cannons. I'll retract the Harpoon and then refire it once we got a clear shot at Rhaknam."

"Where _is_ Ramirez?" Aika asked, blinking. "Guess he did retreat…"

The fog began to roll back in again. Rhaknam was attempting to flee.

"He's awfully passive…" Fina observed.

"Weird. He obliterated our skiff first chance he got…" Vyse said, blinking.

With the ease of any experienced sailor, Drachma wove the _Little Jack_ around and managed to get back on track with Rhaknam. Soon he had matched the Arcwhale's pace and was over his back, just behind the dorsal fin. With a greedy sneer, he angled the ship down and then threw the lever for the Harpoon Cannon, and the ship again bucked as it fired. The cruelly barbed spearhead plunged forward and burrowed deep into Rhaknam's skin with an explosion of the strange, silvery liquid. He howled in pain, his bellow shaking the ship's timbers as the skies opened up and rain began to fall.

"Heh. There's no escape for ya now…" Drachma sneered. "I'm gonna swing us around to the front, boy. Focus yer fire around his eyes, got it?"

"Uh…aye aye, sir…" Vyse replied.

"Finally…finally I'll avenge my crew an' my son. Finally…"

A massive explosion suddenly rocked the ship, knocking them off their feet. The cabin cracked and the roof on the back end collapsed with the splintering of wood and the shattering of glass. Another explosion rocked the boat. They stared in horror as Belleza's armaments blew away in shards of metal and fell towards the ground in a rain of bolts and rivets, followed by their plunder and gold from their adventures. The deck caught on fire and began to burn; the rigging began to shrivel away as the flames licked and ate at the sails.

"Vyse! Out the back!" Aika cried. "It's Ramirez! He must have gotten behind us while we were focusing on Rhaknam. Propeller power is dropping rapidly…w-we're losing altitude!"

"Gah! Quick, everyone get below deck!" Vyse cried. "We need to get in the lifeboats!"

"WHAT?!" Drachma roared. "You're telling me to let Rhaknam go? You're telling me to abandon the _Little Jack_ and the one chance I have?!"

Another explosion took out the masts. The ship was roaring with flame.

"YES!" Vyse shouted, grabbing Drachma by his collar and shaking him as best he could. "Killing Rhaknam won't bring back your son! And if you die, the lives of your crew and Jack would have been in vain! As long as you're alive, you'll always have another chance!"

"….ARRRRGH! DAMMIT!" Drachma pounded his false fist against the wall of the cabin. The remains of the roof came crashing down on them.

"Alright, we're leaving. Everyone, c'mon!" Vyse cried.

With Aika and Fina close behind him, Vyse cleared the debris from the collapse as fast as he could and then hurried down the stairs. Fina was terrified, but worked hard with some encouragement from Aika, and before long they were below deck where everything seemed to be ablaze. Vyse realized the ship could explode at any minute if the fire hit the gunpowder.

Leaping down the stairs, Vyse returned to the engine room and flung open the metal doors that the lifeboats sat behind. Furiously, he flung in the emergency bags of rations and moonstones left there for such an occasion and then helped the girls into their boat. As Aika started the engine up, he leapt into the other boat and revved it up as well. Drachma came up behind the girls and gave their boat a mighty shove. It slid out of the little bay and floated off into the mists and the clouds.

"Captain! Hurry, get on!" Vyse cried, as Drachma came up behind his own boat.

Drachma stared him in the eye.

The old man quirked his mustache in a rare, albeit sad smile.

Then he pushed Vyse out of the bay, his words of "Goodbye…" lost on the wind.

"Noooo!" Vyse screamed, tears stinging at his eyes as he lunged for the back of his lifeboat. He watched in horror as the _Little Jack_, still aflame, still attached to Rhaknam, vanished into the fog and the clouds. Nothing was there to fill the silence except for the howling of the wind and the rain pattering down upon them.

"CAP'N!" Aika cried, in horror.

"W-why did he…why did he do that?" Fina was shocked.

The three continued to stare at the space where the _Little Jack_ once was, stunned, horrified, and saddened. Vyse was tense, expecting to hear an explosion any minute, just _waiting_ for the ship he had grown so fond of to detonate and take the man who had become a second father to him with it.

And then there did come an explosion. Short bursts of cannon fire made him jump, and he stared in horror as a volley of cannonballs came rocketing towards them. The small size of the craft in combination with the fog made them difficult targets to hit, but Ramirez was no fool; they weren't cannonballs, Vyse realized, but concussion shells. The shells exploded around them and rocked the boats violently, threatening to capsize Aika and Fina.

"Ramirez…He fires at lifeboats?!" Vyse was disgusted.

A second volley came. The explosions sent Vyse's craft spinning out of control. He fell forward and hit his head on the wheel, then crumpled to the bottom of the boat.

"VYSE!" he heard Fina shriek. "VYSE, NO!"

And then the world went black.


	18. Together Alone

When Aika awoke, her head felt heavy and swum around her as if her brains were liquid. Her hair was damp and clung to her face, her body cold despite the warm presence beside her. She groaned and forced herself to get up, although when she did her vision blackened and nearly forced her to lie back down again. She shook herself, hanging her head, then blinked her eyes open, only to have her soggy bangs fall into them. Brushing them away, she took a look around.

The first thing she noticed was that she was in the room of her nightmares. Everything, everywhere, was pink and frilly; it looked like the bedroom of a honeymoon suite. The walls were pink and bordered with hearts; the carpet was a darker rose color; there was a white wooden vanity with a heart shaped mirror and a chair with a heart shaped backing in front of it. She realized she was sitting in a bed that was also shaped like a heart, covered in dark pink sheets. It was disgusting.

Looking over, she saw that Fina was out cold beside her. The Silvite girl was battered and bruised, buried beneath the blankets. Her thin hair was damp as well and clung to her face in stringy patches. Her veil had been removed and placed on a nightstand beside her.

"Fina…Fina, wake up…" Aika reached over and gently shook her companion. With a quiet moan, Fina stirred a bit and then blinked her eyes open. Slowly and sorely, she sat up, and immediately wobbled. It took her several minutes to regain her composure, but when she did, she looked over to Aika and blinked.

"…Huh? W-what's going on, Aika? Where…where are we?"

"I don't know…" Aika replied. "I don't even remember coming into this disgusting room…"

"Neither do I…" Fina looked the room over slowly, then looked back over to Aika and gasped. "Oh no, you've been hurt! There's a big bandage wrapped around your head!"

"Is there?" Blinking, Aika reached up and realized that Fina was right. There was a constriction around her forehead that she hadn't noticed before. Her hair had apparently been taken out of its braids to make room for it. "Ow…it's real tender…"

"I could heal it, but…I-I'm not so sure I have enough energy…" Fina said, softly.

Aika laughed a bit. "Oh no, don't worry about it. I'm tough, remember? I'll be fine." She paused then, and frowned, looking around the room. "Where do you suppose Vyse is?"

Fina was about to reply when the door opened and an energetic young woman whisked through. She was a few years older than them, into her mid twenties, with shiny auburn hair that was pulled up into a perfectly neat bun and bright, expressive brown eyes like those of a young huskra puppy. Her face was round and innocent, almost childish in appearance, but the rest of her was filled out and she had a rather wide behind. All of it was hugged by the close-fitting bodice of a pink satin dress, long in sleeves and skirt, trimmed everywhere with lace. Ironically, she had two pistols strapped around her waist.

"Oh, wonderful! You're awake!" she said, in a cheerful singsong voice. "I was beginning to worry that you two had taken a concussion. I'm so glad we found your lifeboat. By the looks of it, you were floating out there for days…you came in with the last of Valua's storms. You must be quite hungry by now."

"Are you…Valuan?" Aika asked, eying her wearily.

"You two must be air pirates…no wonder you're asking." When the both of them looked away, the woman laughed. "Ha! I was right. Well, you don't need to worry about a thing, my dears. I'm an air pirate, too!"

"Really?" Fina perked up, smiling.

The woman giggled, offering a hand to the both of them. "I'm Clara O'Harris, captain of the Blue Rogue ship, the _Primrose_. I'm very pleased to meet you!"

"I'm Aika Nakal, and this is Fina Selvarn. We're both of the Blue Storm," Aika replied, shaking her hand with a smile.

"Oh, the Blue Storm! I've always wanted to meet Dyne's crew! How delightful!" Clara beamed, then pulled out the chair from the vanity and primly sat down in it with a swishing of her skirts. "I didn't realize he had so many female sailors."

"He doesn't," Aika said, with a giggle. "There's only three of us. Fina and I weren't actually sailing with Cap'n Dyne."

"So I noticed. The boat you were in wasn't marked with the call sign of the Blue Storm," Clara noted. "It was some emblem I didn't recognize. You must have been traveling with Dyne's son, then."

"Yes, we were. He…he was in another boat…" Aika replied. She then grew hopeful. "You picked him up too, right?"

Clara's expression dimmed at that, and she shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry, sweetie…you two were the only boat we saw. As it was, you were drifting about a pretty deserted area."

Aika fell into a horrified silence. Fina stiffened beside her.

"Now now." Clara smiled. "If he's the son of Victor Dyne, he'll be too stubborn to just die. Why don't you tell me how you three ended up in such a horrible situation, and perhaps I can figure out where we might look for him."

So, Aika and Fina hesitantly recounted their entire story to Clara, who didn't interject, but merely listened with a sympathetic ear. By the time they finished it was getting dark outside and a young girl who looked a lot like Clara brought in two bowls of soup on a small tray. She smiled to them and then left as Aika and Fina began to hungrily down it.

"Ahh…I see. That is quite a tale -- an unbelievable one at that -- but I've heard plenty about Valua and the state of the world and I know you are telling me the truth." Clara smiled. "I doubt that Mr. McFaer is still alive, but I'm quite sure that Vyse is. You girls like him, right?"

Aika choked on her soup and Fina squeaked and bowed her head. Both blushed immensely.

Clara only laughed, leaning forward towards them with a wink. "You've got to have faith in your man! My sweetie's wrecked his ship twice and been to jail twelve times, but he's doing just fine. Keep your chin up; it'll be all right! Love always perseveres, you know!"

"Uhm…right…" Aika replied, with a sheepish grin.

"Anyway, I'd better get back to my duties. If I entrust them to Belle too long, something's bound to catch on fire." Clara beamed, then stood and pushed the chair back in. "You're free to roam the ship as you like. We're an all-girl crew, so you won't walk in on anything you shouldn't. The washroom's right down the hall to your right, and the galley is three doors beyond that on the left if you're still feeling hungry. We're currently heading for Nasrad and should reach it in about four days. It's a big city; who knows? You might just find Vyse there." And with that, she twirled around on her heel and swept out, singing to herself as she went.

"S-she seems like a very nice person…" Fina commented, when Clara was gone.

"Pretty goofy, though. I've heard about her -- on the wanted lists, she's known as Calamity Clara." Aika grinned. "We're lucky she picked us up, though. She does seem genuinely concerned about us."

"Oh, yes." Fina nodded, then smiled as Cupil, who had hidden himself around her wrist in the shape of a bracelet again, meeped. "You must be hungry too. Come, we'll go find the galley and get you something good to chew on."

"I'm gonna go wash up. I'm covered in dry dirty rainwater and blood." Aika frowned, then stood. "Tomorrow, I think we should help out Clara as a part of her crew. It's the least we can do for her saving our lives, don't you think?"

Fina nodded enthusiastically to that. "Most definitely."

Working with Clara's crew, the two soon learned a lot about their saviors. Most of the girls were between the ages of thirteen to sixteen, with a few a little older than that. They were all orphans that Clara had taken under her wing, many rescued from Valua's Lower City. Clara had a true passion for caring for others, and it was apparent in everything she did. She was an excellent nurse as well as a good cook, but when it came time for business she was as firm as any other Blue Rogue captain. She and Fina got along perfectly, though Aika needed more time to get used to the all-pink ship.

On the fifth day of their travels together, they landed in the extensive ports of Nasrad. Aika had never seen a city so utterly expansive before. It was a complicated coalescence of housing, shops, markets and stalls, all built in a pentagonal formation behind sturdy granite walls. The city was heavily fortified, with guards and giant cannons mounted at regular intervals along the ramparts, and the distinct bright orange ships of Nasr's navy patrolled the island at all hours. The docks were crowded and overflowing with crates and barrels of trade, and the city was jam packed with people, many of them merchants. The din was immense no matter where one went.

"I hate to see you go, but I know Dyne would never forgive me if I stole two of his members for my own." Clara said, as they stepped out onto the docks and off the _Primrose_. With a smile, she handed them a little pink purse. "Here. This should help you get a start in the city. It's five thousand gold."

"Wha!" Aika's eyes went wide. "Are you sure? I mean…"

"It's no problem. I'm more than happy to help a pair of fellow Blue Rogues out." Clara closed her eyes as her smile became a beam. "Go, and search for Vyse."

"What are you going to do now, Clara?" Fina asked.

"I'm going back out to search for my sweetie, of course," Clara replied, dreamily. "He always plays hard to get, but I know he'll come around someday! I've been following him around ever since he decided to become an air pirate – he's the reason I became one, myself!"

"I see…good luck with that," Aika replied, with a goofy grin.

Clara giggled girlishly and curtsied to them. "And good luck to you. I hope we see each other again someday!" With that, she boarded the ship again and within minutes they had cast off. Aika and Fina burst out laughing.

"That's the nicest stalker I've ever met!" Aika cried. "No wonder her entire ship looked like a honeymoon suite!"

"Well, at least she has good intentions," Fina replied, between giggles.

"Teehee." Aika grinned, then turned to survey the docks. "Man…this place is so big. I don't know where to start! I guess we should go find an inn or something, but I really don't want to spend any of this money." She looked down at the purse, brimming with gold coins. "I'd rather save it up. We could buy a ship and go look for Vyse…a little ship, at least…"

"Aren't ships expensive, though?" Fina asked, blinking.

"Yeah, that's the problem. The cheapest ones go for ten thousand gold or so." Aika sighed. "Well…let's ask around. I'm sure a place as big as this is always in need of a few helping hands. We can get a job and save up our money, even though it might mean we'll be living in the streets for a while."

"Job…?" Fina asked.

"I figured you wouldn't know what that means." Aika smirked. "C'mon, just follow me, and I'll show you."

As brave and extroverted as she was, even Aika was overwhelmed by the size of the city. Nasrad was little more than a labyrinth of people and places, with merchants everywhere trying to get her to buy something. She didn't even have her boomerang to protect herself with should they get mugged; she'd have to rely on magic.

She stole a glance at Fina. Despite her time of hard work on board the _Little Jack_, she was still tiny and frail and not overly strong. Vyse had always gone far out of his way to protect her, though she was slowly coming out of her shell.

_I guess it's up to me to protect her now…_ Aika thought, blinking. _She doesn't have the street smarts to make it in a place like this; ruffians would target her instantly_.

Fina was the biggest little sister she never had.

Together, they followed the ramp up from the docks and entered the walls of the city itself. It was a colorful masterpiece of adobe and tile, decked with festive banners and flags. Pools of fresh running water were everywhere, and in the middle of it all was the Royal Palace, its curvaceous peaks rising to abrupt points. She had always heard that Nasr's capital was impressive, but she didn't know just how true that was.

The heat pressed down on the two friends as they searched for a friendly-looking place. Many of the buildings on the main street were occupied by rough sailors that Aika would not have preferred to subject Fina to, so she did her best to avoid them. The weather was blistering, though, and neither had fully recovered from their days lost at sea. Eventually Fina gently grabbed her by the arm and gave it a little tug.

"Aika…let's just ask at that inn over there. Let's ask them if they can give us directions."

"I guess you've got the right idea," Aika concurred. "Let's go."

The hotel, large and extravagant looking, was called The Mirage Inn and Suites. Aika opened the elaborately painted door and carefully peeked in, wanting to be sure the place was devoid of any dirty sailors, but instead it was quiet within, with very few people in the lobby. Those who did mill about were merchants of different sorts.

Feeling a sudden uncharacteristic wave of shyness, Aika approached the innkeeper, who was a kind looking middle-aged woman behind the counter. She smiled at them warmly as they approached and said something in Nasrean, to which Fina replied quickly. The woman made a sound to show she understood and switched to Meridian, apparently for Aika's benefit.

"Good evening," she greeted.

"Uhm…I have a question that's going to sound extremely odd to you…" Aika said, with an embarrassed grin. "I know this sounds dumb of me, asking this at an inn and all, but…do you know a good place we could spend the night?"

The innkeeper blinked. "My…that is an odd question. Why do you not stay here? Are the prices too high? There are other inns in town…"

"Well…that's the thing." Aika bit her bottom lip. "We were shipwrecked and brought to this island by the person who picked us up. We have five thousand gold to live on…and that's it. I'm afraid I don't have much room to spend it, not if we're to buy a ship and go searching for the others we lost when our own ship went down. That's why…if you know a safe place…we need somewhere to stay in town, until we can start making our own money…"

"Well…ahh…mmm…" The innkeeper thought that over for a moment, then smiled. "If you intend to make your own money staying in Nasrad a while, I will let you stay here. You can rent your room at half price and begin to pay off your bill once you have the money. I won't be able to provide room service for you at those prices, mind."

"Oh, no! That is more than enough! Oh, thank you so much!" With a beaming smile, Fina bowed deeply and respectfully to the innkeeper. "We'll keep up with our payments, I promise."

"I believe you. You definitely look like the honest sort. Now…let me see…" The innkeeper took a moment to scribble something down with a quill. "You two were looking for a job as well?"

"Yes, we were. Do you need any help?" Aika asked.

"Oh goodness, no. I've more help than I know what to do with." The innkeeper chuckled. "There's an opening at the Sand Bar just across the street, however. They're in need of a couple waitresses. You're both young and pretty; they'll likely take you in right away. The barkeeper's a nice old gent and he'll make sure the customers don't harass you. He pays by the hour and offers plenty of break time."

"That sounds good," Aika said. "Thank you, you've been such a great help to us…haha, and we don't even know each other's names!"

"I am Kahalla," the innkeeper replied, handing both of them a key. "Your room is number eleven on the second floor."

"I'm Aika, and that's Fina."

"A-and we can't thank you enough for your hospitality…"

The girls tiredly went up to their room and closed the door behind them. They were surprised to find that Kahalla had given them one of the fancier suites, with separate beds made with brightly colored linen sheets and a room decorated in beautiful desert designs. Aika tucked Clara's purse away into a drawer and then flopped down onto the closest bed with a long groan, happy to feel the light of the setting sun upon her.

"Man…what a day. We made a lot of progress in a short time, though. Tomorrow, we'll go talk to that barkeeper, okay Fina?"

"O-okay. I'd like to see what it's like to have a job." Fina smiled at her, then swept over to the windows set against the north wall of the room and stared out of them for a long time. She watched the people in the streets, unmoving, until the red moon had risen. With tears streaming from her eyes, she lifted her gaze to the moon and stared at it sadly.

"Vyse…I hope you're looking at the same moon right now…"

* * *

Captain Gilder VanWoert could have easily been compared to a fox by some people. He was long and sleek in body, his musculature light and sinewy. His face was similarly sleek, with a pointed nose and chin and very prominent, defined features. His eyes were a little narrow, a dark and expressive brown, accented nicely by thick eyebrows. His hair was long enough to brush against the base of his neck and a little on the shaggy side, a mouse brown he kept continuously brushed back in one full sweep. A small goatee in a slightly darker color bristled on his chin, making him look older than he really was. A small pair of pierce-nez, square with wire frames, rested comfortably on the bridge of his straight nose, and a cigarette rested firmly between his pale, thin lips.

He didn't bother to dress inconspicuously for an air pirate, let alone a captain. His clothing proclaimed him to be quite wealthy indeed, from his sturdy black leggings tucked into stiff dark brown leather boots to his off-white silk blouse, of which he always had the cuffs rolled up. A billowing silken scarf of a bright orange was tied around his neck, held in place by a skull-shaped buckle. Over all of it was a heavy duster jacket in a brilliant scarlet red, left open but buckled around his trim waist with a thick belt. Its collar reached up to his small, slightly pointed ears and its hem swept down past his knees. It was short-sleeved, but thick, and hid the pistols strapped around his waist and other such concealed weapons nicely. The embroidery on it was elaborate, intricate designs all done in threads of black and gold. It had probably cost a bundle, but he wouldn't have known, since he had stolen it.

He lived a comfortable life. He had a large, powerful ship, a hard-working crew, lots of booze, and lots of money. Currently he sat slumped back on the plush couch that served as his captain's chair, head leaning over the back as he snored in a contented slumber. It was a good thing he never got around to lighting his cigarette.

As such, he didn't notice when a younger man with dark hair that forever fell into his eyes came on to the bridge. It was Willy, Gilder's parrot who was perched nearby, that alerted him of another's presence with a bit of obnoxious squawking.

"Mmm, Leila...just five more minutes…" he muttered.

"Captain Gilder!" His vice captain was exasperated. "Wake up!"

"Mnff?" Groggily, Gilder lifted his head, sending his cigarette tumbling into his lap. "Where's the fire, Garlan?"

"Oh, you saw it? It's behind us now," Garlan replied.

Gilder eyed him. "What are you talking about?"

"We were passing Crescent Isle when we saw a signal fire," Garlan explained. "I dispatched Brach in a lifeboat and he went to go search the place. He came back with a kid…said he's been shipwrecked there for two weeks. The kid looks to be about seventeen…he's still pretty much a baby."

"Seventeen, eh? You're calling him a baby when you're barely twenty yourself?" Gilder smirked. "Still…he's lucky it was only two weeks. Although if it were me on that island, and I was alone for two weeks…I might not have made it! Not without my women!" Laughing, he rose from his couch. "C'mon, Willybird. Let's go meet our new guest."

"Oh baby! Oh baby!" Willy said, as he fluttered over to Gilder and took a perch on his shoulder.

Gilder swiftly made his way down the stairs from the cabin outside to the deck. There he saw Brach and another one of his crewmembers, Damon, standing on either side of a young roguish looking teenager who was battered, dirty and disheveled. Gilder had a feeling he should know the boy, but couldn't quite place it.

"So! You're the guy who was shipwrecked, hm?" Gilder asked. "Welcome aboard the _Claudia_, my pride and joy. I'm Gilder VanWoert, her captain. Who're you, kid?"

"My name's Vyse Dyne, formerly of the _Little Jack_," the teenager replied.

Vyse! Gilder knew he recognized that face! It was on wanted posters more than his own was these days.

"I thought you looked familiar." Gilder smirked. "You've made quite a name for yourself, kiddo. I'd like to hear some of your adventures, if you don't mind. And how you came to be on that island. Come with me up to the bridge and we'll chat."

Vyse nodded and followed him up.

Gilder didn't realize until they were back up in the cabin that the _Claudia _was likely decorated in a fashion that Vyse wasn't used to – at least as far as Blue Rogue tastes went. The cabin itself was full of loot, liquor, and paintings of half-naked women. Vyse stared at them momentarily before blushing and looking away when he got caught. With a chuckle, Gilder flopped back down on his couch and lit his cigarette, pulling a long draw on it contentedly. After a moment, he patted the cushion next to him and bade Vyse to sit down.

"C'mere, kiddo. I doubt you've sat on anything comfortable in two weeks."

"Uhm…sir…" Vyse began.

"Gilder." Gilder dismissed the formal addressing with a wave of one gloved hand. "I hate formal titles. On this ship, everyone's equal."

"All right…" Vyse seemed to relax considerably at that, and he grinned a bit as he sank gratefully into the cushions of the couch. "I was just going to ask…You're a pirate, right? I noticed you had black sails and—"

"Nice, eh? Allows me to sneak up on Blackies before they recognize my ship." Gilder laughed. "Don't worry, kiddo, I'm as Blue Rogue as you are. I just decorate my ship like a Black Pirate."

"Heh. I've heard plenty about you, but I was never sure if you were Blue Rogue or not. I mean, I've never heard of a Blue Rogue getting imprisoned as many times as you have." Vyse's grin was a little evil.

Gilder burst out laughing at that, throwing his head back. "Wahahaha! I like your attitude! It's true, isn't it? I am rather popular with Valua. Although…" and he looked down to the rogue "…you shouldn't be one to talk, hmm? You've caused more problems for Valua in a year than I've managed to do in a lifetime. Tell me about it."

So Vyse began a long and elaborate tale about moon crystals, Silvites, and what Valua was really planning to do. He spoke of gigantic creatures with cataclysmic powers known as Gigas and of new lands to the south called Ixa'Taka. He ended his tale with how his ship had gotten shot down by Admiral Ramirez while they were hunting the legendary Arcwhale, Rhaknam.

Gilder whistled, intrigued. "Go on…" he insisted. "What'd you do on the island?"

"Well…" Vyse began.

* * *

Vyse awoke feeling cold and sore. Immediately he was aware of the wetness at his feet and legs and tried to move them. A soft splashing accompanied his movements and he realized he was lying in a pool of water. With a groan, he pushed himself up; his body felt like it weighed a hundred pounds more than it did originally. His head spun as he lifted it to look around. When his focus returned, all he could see was a maze of trees and a giant cliff looming in the nearby distance. Tucking his legs beneath him, he turned and realized that he had ended up in a lake with a tall levee surrounding it. Pieces of one of the _Little Jack_'s lifeboats floated in it, while the rest of the debris was buried in the sand nearby.

"I-I'm…alive?"

On weak, wobbly legs, he stood. He didn't recognize his surroundings at all. The island was as temperate and forested as a Meridian island, but far in the distance to the southwest he could see the red moon. Unfortunately, that was the only distinct thing he saw. The lifeboat that Aika and Fina had escaped in was nowhere to be found.

"Fiii-naaa! Aiii-kaa!" he called into the forest. The only response was a bird squawking at him. "I won't give up…there's a good chance that they're on the island, too."

He pulled off his boots to dump the water out of them, but realized that he'd better let them dry completely instead. The leather they were made out of was Charger hide, but that didn't mean they wouldn't begin to shrink. He stuffed them with rocks that he found on the lake shore and then layed them out on a flat-topped boulder to dry along with his socks. Rolling up his pant cuffs to his knees, he then began to scale the levee to see if he could get a better look at the island.

The levee ringing the lake wasn't overly tall, and didn't tell him much, either. The island was clearly deserted, but he couldn't see anything beyond the forest. A flicker of white within the trees made his breath catch up in his throat, however, and he dashed back down the other side of the levee, running into the grove. "Fina! Fina, you're alright!" he cried. There came no reply. His heart sank as he realized that the white dress of Fina was little more than the cover tarp of his lifeboat, caught in a few branches and flapping in the breeze.

A wave of depression suddenly washed over him as he realized that he was overwhelmingly alone. Fina was nowhere to be found on the island, and if Aika were there, he would have heard her already. His best friend and the girl he was so increasingly growing fond of very well might have been dead. No! He wouldn't think of that, would not accept the fact. He would deny it all his life even if it were so.

With a long sigh, he walked back to his lifeboat to salvage what he could from it. To his immense dismay, he found that his pack of rations was way out in the middle of the lake, spoiled by the water, no doubt. As if that weren't bad enough, he couldn't find the bag of moonstones, either. All there was left in the wreckage of the boat was his cutlasses, which he had grabbed from beneath his hammock before abandoning ship.

At least it was something. He strapped his cutlasses around his back and waist and then headed into the forest. It was pretty dense, as small as it was, and it took him a while to weave his way through it to the other side. There he found himself at the base of the mighty cliff that rose high above the island, into which two caves had been carved by the wind and the rain. He took a look into the leftmost cave first and found it empty and unexciting, however large it was. Heading back outside, he went to make his way to the second cave when he stepped on something hard that made a dry crunching at his feet. Looking down, he realized that he had just stepped on the bleached bones of a human skeleton.

"Guess I'm not the first guy to get shipwrecked here…" he murmured to himself, noting the tattered and dirty sailor's uniform still clinging to the bones. Crouching down beside the remains, he noticed a name embroidered on the collar: Gonzales.

"Gonzales, hmm? Well, I'm pleased to meet you, friend. It looks like you could use a proper burial…"

Most sailors preferred to be buried at sea, but Vyse felt that since Gonzales had lived and died at the island, he might as well bury him there. Using his hands and a few branches fallen from the trees, he dug a hole adjacent to the mouth of the second cave until the sun was setting. By that time the hole was fairly deep and good enough for burial.

Unlike Aika, Vyse wasn't superstitious or afraid of the dead. He carefully placed his hands under Gonzales' remains and moved to pick him up when an old scrap of paper fell out of the sailor's clothes. Blinking, Vyse temporarily set him down and picked the scrap of paper up. He was amazed to find that it was a detailed map of an archipelago he had never seen before. It was dry and nearly crumbled at his touch.

"This thing's ancient! I've never seen these islands before. Eh. I might as well hang on to this, it might come in handy later."

Tucking it into his tunic, he proceeded to bury Gonzales and pile the loose dirt back on top of him. When it was all packed firmly into place, he made Gonzales a headstone of a little pyramid of rocks, then stepped back and said a small prayer to the moons. It was all he could do.

"I hope you can rest peacefully now, Gonzales, and are guided into the afterlife by the Silver Lady. Please watch over me while I am stranded here…"

By then night had settled in completely. He retreated to the second cave and found that apparently Gonzales had been living in there. Gonzales had set up a bed of straw and grasses, with a few old, gray blankets and a pillow over it. A few things he had apparently salvaged from his own ship were used as furniture: barrels, crates, and even an old trunk. A diary was left open atop the trunk, lying beside a quill, dry bottle of ink, and a rusty knife. Above it were tally marks scratched upon the wall; Vyse did a quick count of them and nearly choked when he saw that Gonzales had been stranded on the island for twenty years.

"This is not a good sign…"

Feeling unsettled, Vyse laid himself down on the mattress of grasses and straw and eventually fell into a fitful sleep. He had nightmares of Drachma and Aika, but most of all of Fina, who continued to die because he wasn't there to save her. She cried out to him; it made him cringe and toss in his sleep. Eventually he bolted awake and sat upright early into the next morning, panting and sweating. He went to peek outside the cave and realized it was barely dawn.

A rustling in the bushes caught his attention. He noticed some strange, fishlike creatures flopping between them, and on cue his stomach growled. He hadn't realized just how hungry he was. The creatures had to have been edible, if Gonzales had survived for twenty years, however…

Vyse crouched in the underbrush and waited, mimicking the hunting methods of the Ixa'Takan tribesmen as best he could remember them. He dared not breathe, dared not move, simply willing the strange fishlike creatures towards him. One eventually crept near, pausing to gather and eat the insects it found on the leaves of some of the bushes. Vyse tensed the muscles in his legs, waited, and pounced. He grabbed a hold of the fish-creature by the tail, but it managed to wriggle out of his grasp and began to frantically flop away. Drawing his cutlasses, he dashed after it, but it jumped off the edge of the island and swam off.

"Gah! Dammit!"

It took him multiple tries before he was able to finally land a kill. By that time he had stopped trying to catch the fish and simply took swings at them with his cutlasses instead. By the time the sun had risen, he had felled six of the odd amphibious creatures. He decided that that was enough for the day. He stored them back in his cave and spent the rest of the morning gathering firewood from the trees around him. The branches and brambles stacked up quickly, and before long he was able to clear out the fire pit Gonzales had once used and lined it with new brush. Then came time for the hard part.

Vyse didn't feel like rubbing two sticks together until his arms fell off. Sitting back, he flopped onto Gonzales' bed and tried to remember how Aika cast her fire magic. He had had a second chance at learning magic from Fina as she spent her free time teaching Aika the different elements between their travels, but he still had neglected the lessons, not really interested in casting trances and complex theories. But now, if he wanted a meal anytime soon, he needed to bring his power to physical form.

Vyse squinted his eyes shut and concentrated. He focused upon the red moonstone kept on his key ring in his pocket and embraced it with his mind. His concentration began to waver, however, as he started to think of Fina and how skilled she was with magic as though it were second nature…

"No! Focus, Vyse!"

Again, he concentrated on the moonstone. He did miss Fina's presence, though; her gentle laughter, her soft voice, her shy demeanor…

"Focus!"

Vyse took a deep breath and tried again. He held the presence of the moonstone firm in his mind now, and kept it there. Squeezing his eyes a little tighter shut, he pictured himself surrounded by a ring of flame, feeling its heat, its flickering light dancing all over the cavern. He pretended to gather the fire into his hands and…

A little spark burst between his fingertips and then fizzled away.

"Aw, man…"

It was a slow process. He simply couldn't channel magic as quickly as either of the girls could. He continued to lose his sparks until, half an hour later, he finally managed to hold a small ball of magical fire in his hand. With a tired sigh of relief, he dropped the ball into the fire pit and watched in satisfaction as it began to eat away at the wood and roar to life.

As the fire continued to grow, he scaled and gutted his catch of fish and hung them over the pit to be smoked. It was a messy process with only a pair of cutlasses and a rusty old knife, but he managed and within the next two hours had all of the fish cooking over the fire. The smoke drifted rather thickly out of the cavern entrance, but at least the fish smelled good.

In the meantime, Vyse went to go wash up in the lake and retrieve his boots from the night before. He noticed storm clouds looming in on the horizon and decided he had better collect more firewood before it rained. He returned to the cave with his arms full of footwear and branches and dumped it all in the corner. He was only too glad to shove his feet back in his boots that, while now stiff, had thankfully not shrunken due to the rocks. The ground was rough and it hurt to walk barefoot for long.

He spent the rest of the day gathering nuts, berries, and more firewood. He brought in the tarp to keep it safe from the rain and filled an old canteen Gonzales had left hanging around with water from the lake. The fish were filling, but boring for lack of seasoning.

The storm had settled in by late in the afternoon. Vyse figured it had come from Valua, and might have even been the one they were caught in when the _Little Jack_ sunk. The heavens opened up and poured upon the little island, and Vyse was grateful to have shelter from it all. Water began to leak through the cave entrance, however, and he was forced to block it off with the tarp, which began to trap the smoke from the fire in. Vyse readjusted the tarp so that a corner of it was left open and the problem was eventually solved.

He sat there in the cave, with only the crackling of the fire and the pattering of the rain on the tarp to accompany him. He read through Gonzales' journal, then lay back on his bed and thought of Fina until, eventually, he fell asleep.

The rain continued to keep him inside for three days. On the fourth, he stepped outside to find a few red moonstones unearthed at his feet. That's when the idea struck him to repair the _Little Jack_'s lifeboat. He had the materials he needed, between Gonzales' salvage and the trees on the island, and even though the moonstones fresh from the earth were unrefined and lacked potency, they would be enough to power his little lifeboat! He first set about building a signal fire, in case any ships passed by beforehand, forming a tower of stone and wood atop the levee that he did his best to keep burning. The next day, he gathered his supplies and set to work on the lifeboat, the memory of Fina serving as the one thing to press his weary body onwards.

When night fell in upon him, he started a bonfire out on the beach and cooked the rest of the fish he had caught. He knew he would need to hunt some more in the morning, but for now he sat back and pillowed his head by folding his arms behind it. His amber eyes swept over the stars and finally landed upon the red moon, which tinged the sky purple with its light.

"Fina…are you staring at the same moon, I wonder…?"

* * *

"I spent the next week working on the boat," Vyse said, concluding his story. "I had finally finished it yesterday and was preparing to cast off today when I saw your ship in the distance. I tried to signal you and apparently somebody saw me. They fired a shot to show I had their attention and then sent a lifeboat down to pick me up. And now…here I am."

"Very impressive…" Gilder said, stroking at his goatee absently. "Vyse, I've gotta say…I envy you. You've really got it all."

"Hm?" Vyse blinked.

"Treasure, brawls…and women. There are plenty of things in this world that make me happy, and you have all of it!" Gilder replied. "You've done damn well for yourself."

"Heh. Well, it wasn't easy…" Vyse said.

Gilder grinned. "Of course not. I didn't say I expected it to be. Nevertheless, just listening to your tale was enough to get my adrenaline flowing. I thank you." He leaned back. "In any case, my crew and I are headed for Nasrad to pawn off some recent loot we've acquired. While we're there, maybe we can get some information on your lost ladies, hmm? Go ahead and take the wheel, everything's marked on the map."

"What?" Vyse blinked and stared at him incredulously. "You'll let me?"

Gilder only gave him a charismatic grin. "Kid, anyone who's been through what you have must certainly know his way about a ship! The _Claudia_'s a little sensitive, but you should get the hang of her. She's the fastest pirate ship on the six seas."

"Really?" Vyse's interest seemed to be piqued by that. With a grin, he stepped up to the wheel and gave it a few experimental turns. "Wow…it's so different from the _Little Jack. _Everything's so new and sleek! Can you outrun Armada cruisers in this thing?"

"Hah! Can I?" Gilder grinned. "Armada vessels eat the clouds I leave in my wake! The _Claudia_ was once a racing vessel, but I converted her to a pirate ship, so she's got both speed and power working for her. There's not a soul on the seas who willingly picks a fight with her."

"Wow…she's…she's a perfect ship…" Vyse was amazed. "I'd love to have a ship like this…The _Little Jack_ was fast, but not powerful…and my dad's ship, the _Albatross_, was powerful, but not fast. How do you manage it without slowing it down?"

"I try to keep up with Valua's technology," Gilder explained. "Whenever they come out with a new cannon, I steal it. It's as simple as that. _Claudia_'s counterbalanced by her light frame and her long pectoral fins. The conversion was expensive, but well worth it."

The _Claudia's_ speed certainly was something to marvel at. Within a mere two days they had covered immense distance and were beginning to close in on Nasrad. The island that Nasr's capital sat upon was just beginning to come up in the distance when Garlan came up to the bridge with a wry expression on his face.

"Captain…a ship's been sighted in the distance and is following our course exactly."

"Eh?" Gilder quirked an eyebrow. "Who dares chase the _Claudia_?"

"Well, sir…the ship is…it's pink."

"Pink ship—Ohhh nooo…" With a long groan, Gilder dropped his face into his palm. "Not again. Get Brach and Damon up here, would you? It's time for Operation Clara…you know the drill."

Garlan smirked. "Aye, sir."

Gilder grinned and saluted him, then stood and came up behind Vyse. "C'mon, kiddo. It's time to go."

"Huh? Go where?" Vyse asked.

"That pink ship is piloted by a Blue Rogue woman who's been stalking me for years," Gilder explained. "My men are going to sail the _Claudia_ as a decoy while we escape in the opposite direction in a lifeboat."

"Are you sure it's okay to just abandon your own ship?" Vyse blinked. "I mean, you _are_ the captain…"

"Haha. Remember what I said? Formal titles mean nothing to me." Gilder grinned. "Don't worry, we have to do this all the time. My crew can take care of themselves. Besides, didn't you say you liked adventure? It's time for us to see what Nasrad has to offer!"

* * *

Aika had just finished cleaning the last of the tables when the door to the bar opened again and somebody else came through. She looked around for Fina, but the Silvite girl was busy serving some other customers and had her hands tied with a rather large platter of drinks that threatened to teeter her over. With a sigh, she set her cleaning rags aside for the moment and pulled out a little notepad as the tall sailor settled down at the bar. She came up beside him, dipped her quill in a bottle of ink she kept in her apron pocket, and scribbled down the number of the seat he was sitting at.

"Welcome to the Sand Bar. What can I get for you today?" she asked, as she wrote.

"Well! Good afternoon to you, fair maiden!" the sailor replied. Aika sighed. As if she didn't get hit on enough in this joint… "When did Capal get such a lovely face as yours to work here?"

"Look, pal, I--" Aika lifted her head to glare at the man, but found herself staring into two bright pools of brown peering over the tops of a pierce-nez instead. This man wasn't like the other sailors that frequented the bar. He was handsome, well groomed, and obviously quite wealthy. The look of a pirate was all about him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so forward." He smiled aand offered a gloved hand to her. "I'm fairly regular here, Capal will tell you. Name's Gilder."

"Gilder? You mean, the Firestorm Captain?" Aika stared at him with wide eyes. "The most wanted Blue Rogue ever?"

"Mm, something to that effect," he replied with a chuckle, stroking at his goatee.

"Wow! They used to talk a lot about you, back at my home!" Aika replied. She couldn't believe she was in the presence of such a famous air pirate. "Oh, I'm sorry. My name's Aika."

"Aika, hmm? I've got a friend who knew a girl by that name." Gilder leaned back in his chair and stretched. "Bah. Blasted heat's too much for this coat. What's the coldest thing Capal's got on tap right now, Aika?"

"Mmm…probably his purple daiquiri mix," she replied, after a moment's thought. "He uses purple moonstones to keep it cool and slushy."

"That works. Get me two of them," Gilder replied, chuckling.

"Two? Wow, alright…" Aika scribbled that down, then grinned up at him. "Would you like a little umbrella in them?"

Gilder blinked, then started to laugh. "Sure! Why not?"

Aika laughed and nodded. "Coming right up, then."

As she went in back to prepare the drink, Aika found that her heart was racing. Gilder's charisma was charming, and she found she rather enjoyed his presence. Then again, he looked to be older than her and she wasn't about to just let the memory of Vyse go…

Besides, what would a big-time pirate like him want with a small-time tomboy like her, anyway?

Still, she couldn't help but to feel a little giddy when she came out with his drinks and slid them across the countertop to him. He took one glass and pulled a long drink from it, then slid the other one back over to her.

"That one's for you."

"No, I couldn't…" Aika replied.

"Have you taken time for yourself at all today?" he asked, with a charming grin. "You look like you've been overworking yourself to death. Your hair's all over the place. Here, just sit down for a moment and share a drink with me. If Capal gets mad, I'll pay him extra."

"Well…" Aika hesitated, flicking a glance over to Fina, who was busy floating from table to table cleaning her side of the tavern. "…I guess I could, for a little bit."

"Much better." Gilder gave her a lopsided grin and pulled out the barstool next to him. "Have a seat. Tell me what's been going on in Nasrad lately."

"Well…not much, really…" Aika replied, sliding into place next to him. "I've been working here for a moon with a friend of mine, but everything's been real quiet. There's been a series of thefts on the docks, though…the guards think it's a band of thieves rather than Black Pirates. Have you ever heard of the Band of the Bane? I think they have a local hideout here…"

"Run by Lord Zivilus Bane?" Gilder asked, taking another sip from his glass. "Mm. I've had a couple of run-ins with them. They only go after the rarest, most valuable, sought-after treasure. Mere gold and moonstones mean nothing to them."

Aika blinked. "Are they always this active around Nasr alone?"

Gilder shook his head. "Mm…nope. Nasr has its fair share of treasure, but they snoop around Valua and its territories, too. Last time I ran into a Bane, it was around some ruins north of Madera."

Aika quirked an eyebrow. "It wasn't the Maw of Tartas, was it?"

"No, it was an old castle-looking place…" Gilder paused and eyed her, looking impressed. "How do you know about the Maw of Tartas? Only the most seasoned of explorers and the Valuan Royal Family know about that place."

Aika only grinned. "Well, I'm a seasoned explorer then, I guess."

"I'll be damned…" Chuckling, Gilder finished off his drink with a satisfied sigh. "Would I be correct, then, in wagering that you're an air pirate?"

"Former one, anyways…" Aika replied, swirling her drink around in its glass for a bit. "I'm pretty much grounded now. I lost my ship a while ago…"

"You're more than welcome to sail with me aboard the _Claudia_," Gilder said, winking.

Aika's heart skipped a beat, and she began to turn red. To sail with this man would be beyond her dreams. But he was the Captain, and that meant he followed his own schedule. Gilder was a lot wilder than Drachma…and she wasn't sure he'd be as flexible to her schedule. She and Fina needed to find Vyse, first and foremost. She could not let that be delayed more than it had to.

"I wish I could…" she replied, staring into her glass, "but I've got a quest of my own that's gone unfinished. I'm not allowing myself to go anywhere until I've got enough money to support my friend and I."

Gilder reached over and tapped beneath her chin with one finger. Blushing immensely, she looked up at him and he winked as he slid a bag of coin across the counter at her. "Stop worrying then."

Aika stared at the bag full of money. It was larger than Clara's purse and easily held more than what she had given them within. "N-no…Gilder, I can't take this…"

"Bah! You sound like my new helmsman." Gilder took her hand and placed the pouch within it. "If it's one thing I hate to see, it's damsels in distress. This is eight thousand gold…pocket change for me. But hopefully it will help you in your coming trials. If you won't sail with me, at least think of me, fair maiden."

"I…I will…Thank you…" Aika was breathless. This was most certainly a change of events. With her head up in the clouds, she slid away from the red-clad captain and swept over to Fina. "Fina! Fina, look at this!" she whispered excitedly.

Fina blinked her large eyes and stared at the pouch of money. "Aika, did you steal that? Stealing for your own benefit is bad…"

"No! That man at the counter just _gave_ it to me!" Her eyes were dancing now. "We would have had to work over a year for this amount, but now we have more than enough to buy our own ship! Fina, we can leave right away!"

"Oh my! R-really?" Fina's eyes widened even more, and she clasped her hands over her chest. "W-we can finally go find Vyse?"

"Yep!" Aika grinned. "Go to the inn and pay off our debt to Kahalla with Clara's money. There should be plenty leftover, so when you're done, come meet me at the center fountain. I'll tell Capal that we're going."

"Is that alright? Can we just leave like that?" Fina asked.

Aika nodded. "I told him we would be, eventually. Don't worry. When we meet back up again, we can go buy our ship and get out of here right away!"

* * *

Fina excitedly scrambled out of the tavern and began to hustle her way to the inn. She rarely ran, but it was good to be on solid ground and she was excited. She finally had her chance to reunite with Vyse, who she had worried over and missed for so long. Their reunion was long overdue.

In all her rush, she nearly missed the form of an old man lying crumpled in the streets.

Fina was horrified that some great evil had befallen him. In the Shrine, Silvites were taught to always respect and care for their elders, regardless of who they were. Her people were very lucky to be as prosperous and advanced as they were. High Elder Prime himself was passing a hundred and ten years of age…

"Sir! Oh…oh sir, are you alright?" Fina knelt down beside the man, feeling for a pulse.

"Ugh…so…so hungry…" he murmured. She realized he was dressed and looked no better than a Lower City Valuan. Enrique had shown her the plight of those poor people, and it ate away at her heart to see them living in such a miserable state. This impoverished old man was hardly different.

"Oh no! You poor thing. J-just hold on, and I'll take you to my hotel room, okay? I'll get you some food from the kitchen. You'll be alright, I promise."

"Erh…" he replied.

Fina couldn't lift very much, but the old man did not look very heavy, and indeed he was not. Carefully, she helped him up and balanced him around her shoulders, then slowly guided him inside the inn. Kahalla watched her curiously as she moved the man up the stairs and into her and Aika's room. Once there, she carefully lowered him onto the bed and then ran downstairs to get some food from Kahalla.

"Please! He's starving…" Fina begged. "I'll pay for the…the…what was it called?"

"Room service?" Kahalla smiled. "Stay put, I'll see what I have."

After a few minutes, Kahalla returned from the kitchen with a platter heaping with meats, breads, and vegetables of different sorts. Fina bowed and thanked her repeatedly, then scooted back up the stairs to her room. The old man hadn't budged, and she fretted a bit as she set the food platter down on the nightstand. Propping his head up on a pillow, she poured some water from a glass into his mouth and then offered him some tiny round fruits.

"H-here…take some…"

With some difficulty, the old man accepted the fruit and chewed on it slowly. That was all it took to get his appetite working, however, and he weakly held out a hand. "M-more…please…"

Fina continued to feed him, until his strength had returned enough that he could sit up and feed himself. By this time he held nothing back, and downed the food ravenously, clearly grateful for such a large meal. Fina smiled and simply sat on her bed watching him, making sure he was all right. His voracious hunger reminded her of Vyse, who always scarfed down his meals as though there was only a limited amount of time before they disappeared. Such manners were abhorrent in Silvite society, but she found it comical when Vyse did it, and rather liked it.

She missed him so…

When the old man had finally finished, he set the tray aside and heaved a sigh of relief. With a smile radiating gratitude, he looked upon Fina and leaned forward on his cane.

"Young lady…you are an angel. You very well might have saved my life. You even look the part!" He rubbed at his grizzled mustache a little. "Forgive me if I troubled you. I hate having to rely upon others, but…I've been poor for most of my life and I think I'm gettin' too old to take care of myself now. My name is Pedro, and I wish I could give you something in return for your unbridled kindness."

"Blue Rogues need no reward," Fina replied with a smile. It felt good to say that. It felt like she was actually a part of the Blue Rogues. As she moved his tray aside, she opened Aika's nightstand and withdrew Clara's purse. From within she took a hundred gold and placed it beside the man. "Here…I hope this will help you for a little while…"

"Bless you…bless you a hundred times over." Carefully, Pedro gathered up the coins and put them in his pocket. "I…oh! I know! If you are a Blue Rogue, then I do have something to reward you with!" He reached into his threadbare vest and withdrew an old, dirty roll of paper. He smoothed it out on the bed and beckoned her over. "This…this is my greatest treasure. I'm too old to have need of it now, though. Perhaps it will lead you to happiness instead."

Fina walked over and peered at the paper curiously. It was half of an old map, an archipelago that she didn't recognize from Silvite maps of the world. "Where's the rest?" she asked.

"I used to be an explorer with my friend, Gonzales," Pedro explained. "We were based in Valua, but we sailed all over the place. Eventually we stumbled upon this on a tiny island in Meridia: Daccat's map."

"Daccat…?" Fina blinked.

Pedro blinked as well. "You're an air pirate and you don't know who Daccat is?"

"Should I?" Fina blushed ashamedly. "I-I'm sorry. I haven't been an air pirate for very long…I'm still learning."

"Ah. Well, that's not a problem then." Pedro smiled. "Daccat was the most infamous air pirate ever. He was neither Blue nor Black; he simply followed his own path. It's said he traveled the world and saw all six moons with his own eyes. During his travels, he accumulated an immense amount of treasure, all of which he buried here on Daccat's Isle. They say there's enough treasure there for three separate pirate clans to live on for the rest of their lives."

"O-oh my! It sounds like an exciting place!" Fina exclaimed.

"Gonzales and I were so excited. Immediately we set out, following the map," Pedro continued. "We tore it in half and each kept one piece with us, out of friendship and out of trust. But on our way there, we were attacked by Black Pirates and forced to abandon ship. I got separated from Gonzales and was picked up a few days later by a merchant vessel in the area. The merchant dropped me off here where I decided I would wait for Gonzales, but…but he never came. After all this time…I doubt my good friend is even alive anymore. So, I entrust this important piece of map to you, young lady. I hope you can make the best of it."

"Th-thank you. I won't let your dream fail, I promise." Fina smiled.

Pedro returned the smile, then stood and hobbled for the door. Fina helped to escort him down the stairs and back out of the inn. "Best of luck to you, dear girl!" he said with a wave as he walked off. Fina's heart swelled with a feeling of satisfaction. She loved to help people.

Heading back inside, Fina packed up what few belongings she and Aika had acquired during their stay in Nasrad and tied it up into a little bundle. Taking their keys and Clara's purse, she then headed back downstairs and paid off their debts to the innkeeper. Kahalla was sad to see them go, and hoped for a visit eventually. Fina promised to do her best.

Back outside, the sun was beginning to dip low within the sky. Aika was waiting impatiently by the fountain and had apparently been there for a while. Fina apologized and told Aika her story of the old man and the map. The redhead's eyes instantly widened.

"_The_ Daccat's map?! Fina…with this much treasure, we could buy a _real_ ship…one that could obliterate Valuan vessels…and we could find Vyse with ease! With this much treasure…we'd be set for life! Oh…oh let's go, right now! Let's buy our ship and set sail. We have to find that treasure!"

With that, she dashed off. Fina gasped and hurried after her. "W-wait for me!"

* * *

Gilder whistled an upbeat sea shanty to himself as he walked back to the inn. Though he had lost his chances with Aika, he nevertheless felt invigorated by his encounter with her. If he had a woman like that in his life, he just might settle down…

He continued his whistling up the stairs, twirling the room key on one of his fingers. Vyse had gotten them both a room with Gilder's money, and Gilder was more than ready for a real bed to sleep in. As he entered the room, he saw Vyse sitting on one of the beds, staring down at a scrap of paper.

"Aw, what are you staring at that thing for?" he asked, coming alongside him. "We've got some sightseeing to do, kiddo!"

"I'm just trying to figure this thing out…" Vyse replied. "I've never seen this island chain before, and half of the map is missing, so…"

Gilder leaned over and peered at the map. The island chain was an unnamed archipelago that included Crescent Isle, where Vyse had been marooned. The seal at the bottom was of a leering skull with a cutlass through one of its eyes. Gilder nearly choked and snatched the map out of Vyse's hands. "W-where did you get this?!"

Vyse blinked. "I told you, I found it on Gonzales' body on the island. Why?"

"Because _this_—" and he jabbed a finger into the map "is a treasure map pointing the way to Daccat's Isle, that's why!"

Vyse's jaw dropped. "_The_ Daccat? I thought that was just a legend!"

"It's as real as you and me, kiddo. See this wax seal at the bottom? It's nearly impossible to duplicate. This thing's authentic." Gilder continued to stare in wonder, then side glanced at Vyse slyly. "Whaddaya think, kid?"

Vyse grinned. "I think we need to go treasure hunting."

"Hah! Now you're speaking my language!" Gilder replied.


	19. The Greatest Treasure of All

"'The dead will always watch over my treasure. The location is…' That's all it says. And there's a picture here of a skull on what looks like…" Aika leaned forward and peered at the map. "The east coast of Valua? Why would Daccat bury his treasure in Valua, of all places?"

"No, look. The skull is facing one of the islands." Fina pointed to the map, tracing her finger along the path of the skull's gaze. "It looks like it's watching this island here."

"It's the second to last island in the chain. Man, it'll take us a week to get there in this boat!" Aika sighed, staring at the deck of their small craft, which closely resembled the boat Belleza had sailed them to the Temple of Pyrynn in. It chugged softly as it sailed along, driven forward by only two pectoral fins.

Fina giggled. "Aika, the island's just right over there. We've made good time sailing."

"I know, but I want my treasure now!" Aika whined.

Fina smiled. "In the Great Silver Shrine, we're taught that patience is a virtue. An outburst like yours would result in punishment."

Aika blinked. "What? Really?"

Fina nodded. "My people are very conservative and well-disciplined. Your behavior would be seen as childish and shameful."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I-I don't know, really…I just think you should be patient, is all…"

Aika giggled and turned the ship on to its proper course.

Within the next couple of hours, they pulled up to the island and nestled the ship into a little cove in the side. It was there, as they disembarked, that they found themselves confronted by an enormous slab of red stone with a scorpion engraved into it. Archaic writing was scrawled down the side and a slightly raised stone platform sat at the foot of it.

"This door is _huge_!" Aika exclaimed. "How are we supposed to open it?"

"The writing on it is a dead language…but I think I can read it." Fina leaned forward and traced her delicate fingers over the engravings. "When the two become one, the path will open itself to you. That's what it says."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Aika demanded. "Man! Why is Daccat being so stingy? It's not like his gold's worth anything to him anymore! Dammit. Open!" She began to kick at the door, furiously.

"Aika, p-please calm down…" Fina touched her friend on the shoulder gently. "Maybe there's a switch around here somewhere that we need to press…"

All the sudden, the stone slab sank into the ground beneath their feet with a low grinding and a final thud. A moment later the door slowly pulled itself open, with the grinding sound of stone on stone that made them cringe. The girls were stunned enough to have the door open, but were even more stunned when they heard a cry from somewhere near them. Aika froze in her steps and latched onto Fina's arm.

"Oh no! I bet Daccat's haunting the island!"

"D-do you think so…?" Fina blinked. "Does that mean he's a 'ghost?'"

"Yes!" Aika wailed. "Fina…do Silvites know how to perform exorcism? Silver magic's all about purifying and stuff, right?"

"Well, uhm, yes, it is…" Fina blinked, confused. "But what is exorcism?"

"Ghost banishing!" Aika replied, shaking her a bit. Fina stumbled back and Aika seemed to calm down a little afterwards. "Well...maybe ghosts won't attack girls. We'll be fine." In an abrupt mood swing, she grinned, grabbed Fina by the hand, and ran with her inside. "Let's go!"

They didn't get very far. The inside of the island appeared to be a network of dark, damp caverns illuminated by moonstone torches that were just about dead. It was so dim that they could barely see, so Aika concentrated a bit of fire magic into the palm of her gloved hand and created a fireball that they used as a torch. The roughly carved hallway they were in ended abruptly in a stone door similar to the first.

"…I don't believe this," Aika said, flatly. "Here…Increm me. Maybe I can force it open."

"But there's nothing to hold on to…" Fina said, softly. "You're only going to hurt yourself…"

"Grr…." Aika stomped her foot against the ground, which was covered by another stone slab. It suddenly sank beneath them and the door slid open.

"Oh! I get it now!" Aika stared down at her feet. "These slabs are like big buttons that open the doors! You and I must not be heavy enough to open them right away, Fina."

"Uhm…o-okay…"

* * *

Vyse and Gilder were a few days behind their own schedule. They had stayed in Nasrad for a time to rest up and attempt an audience with the Nasultan – for Vyse had hoped to warn of the impending Valuan attack – but as commoners and ruffians they could not get in and their warnings fell onto the deaf ears of the guards. Luckily even the lifeboats of the _Claudia_ were fast and they had made it to Daccat's Isle in three days.

"'…North of the City of Sand. There the way will open for you when the two become one.' That's all it says." Vyse looked up from the map to the enormous stone door engraved with a lizard on it. "No clues on how to open the thing."

"Well. That's helpful. I've never been very good at cryptic stuff." Gilder sighed to himself thoughtfully. "So now what? There's gotta be an easier way to open this thing aside from us banging our heads against it."

"Maybe there's a latch on it or something?" Vyse stepped up beside Gilder on the stone slab at the foot of the door and began to run his fingers across the engravings, searching for a secret lever of some sort. Instead, the slab began to sink beneath them, and both gave out a startled cry. The door slid open on its own.

"Well…alright…" Vyse blinked. "I didn't touch anything…did you?"

"Not a thing," Gilder replied. "I guess we just needed more weight on this pressure plate."

"I…guess…" Vyse rubbed at the back of his neck, then tucked the map away in his tunic and stepped into the caverns revealed to them. "Well, let's go."

The cavern proved to be short and unexciting. They hadn't even walked down the corridor for a minute before it dead-ended into another stone door with another slab at the foot of it.

"What the hell?" Vyse murmured.

"Let's try the slab," Gilder suggested. They stood on it, but nothing happened. Vyse began to hop up and down on it out of frustration.

"Move! Move! Move! I can't buy a ship if you don't move!"

"Heh. When in Valua, do like the Valuans do, I guess." Gilder began to jump on it as well.

It took five minutes of jumping before the door finally opened. On the other side, they could hear the unintelligible lilt of a couple of women's voices.

"Whoa…what?" Gilder blinked and looked around, hesitantly taking one step through the door. "What in the world could that be?"

"You hear it too?" Vyse blinked. "I don't know. Are there guardians to this place or something?"

"Not that I know of…" Gilder shuffled over to the end of the hallway, where a rocky outcropping led up to a flight of stairs. He peered up at the cavern ceiling high above and blinked. "Vyse…there's another passage up there."

Vyse came up beside him and craned his head upwards. "Where do you suppose that leads?"

"I'm not sure." Gilder frowned. "This hallway may double back as it winds up the island…or, there's another way in here."

"Think we've got company?"

"I dunno, kid. What are the chances of it?"

"Heh. Slim to none." Vyse grinned. "Let's keep going."

* * *

Aika continued to cling to Fina's arm as the Silvite now took the lead down the dark hallways. The moonstone torches by now had died and she had created an aura of fluorescent white light around her body to illuminate the way.

"I heard them again!" Aika insisted. "There's voices! Two of them!"

"Aika, I haven't seen anything," Fina replied. "There is no negative energy in these caverns…"

"But they're there! A-any minute now…a ghost is gonna pop out and start eating our souls!"

Fina shrieked and jumped. "E-eat our soul?!"

"Yes! That's how evil ghosts are!" Aika replied. "That's why we need to be careful!"

"O-okay…"

They reached another dead end. Expectantly, they stepped on the pressure plate and waited.

"W-what if Daccat's ghost is on the other side?" Aika fretted.

Fina giggled. "Vyse is right, you do have a big imagination."

"I don't want the greatest air pirate of all time to eat my soul!" Aika cried.

Many minutes passed, and the door didn't open.

"I'm not jumping anymore. We might draw attention to ourselves," Aika said.

"Aika, if Daccat really wanted to harm us, don't you think he would have done so already?" Fina asked, blinking.

"Maybe he's just luring us into his lair!" Aika replied. "Maybe he's a zombie and he's gonna cook us and eat our flesh!"

Fina squirmed. "Aika, that's disgusting!"

"It's what they do!" the rogue girl insisted.

The door finally opened, revealing nothing on the other side except for another large cavern. Aika heaved a sigh of relief.

"No cooking pots…"

Fina blinked.

A small walkway stretched over a chasm to the other end of the cavern, where there was some sort of puzzle waiting there for them. Far beneath them was a similar path that they could just barely make out. It was from that direction that two nondescript male voices came.

"Eeeek! There, again!" Aika jumped and nearly fell off the walkway.

"A-Aika, please be careful…" Fina said, trying to balance her. "Let's just keep moving."

"Make them go away…"

"Aika."

"Alright, I'm coming…"

Together, they approached the panel on the wall that was a picture puzzle of some sort. It was composed of interlocking sliding stone squares nestled into a wooden frame. Aika eyed it wearily and then looked over to Fina. "Well? Any guesses as to what it is?"

"Uhm…" Fina hesitated, studying the scattered squares. "Something…pirate-y?"

"It's probably a skull or something," Aika agreed. "Well…let's start rearranging things and see what happens."

She reached up and curled her fingers around the first square. It wouldn't budge.

"Ergh! This thing's heavy!"

"Here…" Fina closed her eyes and placed her hands over Aika's heart. She could feel Aika staring at her for a moment, but then Fina's intentions became clear and Aika relaxed. After a moment, Fina stepped back and Aika shook her arms out with a grin.

"Whoo! No wonder Vyse loved this spell! I feel like I could throw Rhaknam up to the moons!" She laughed. "Thanks, Fina!"

Fina giggled. "See if it helps."

With more confidence, Aika reached out and attempted to move one of the pieces. Her new Increm-enhanced strength overcame the friction of the stones and it slid with ease. She grinned in satisfaction and began to move them all around.

"Oh…oh, I might know what it is," Fina said. "Move that one to your right up, and move those next two below it to the left."

"Oh! Yeah, I see it too. Lo and behold, it is something pirate-y." Aika giggled and rearranged the last few pieces. When she was finished, the puzzle formed a picture of a skeleton. "The dead always watch over his treasure, hahah-aaaaaaahhhhh!"

* * *

"There! Listen!" Gilder froze, tilting his head slightly to the right. "I heard somebody screaming!"

"So did I…It almost sounded like…" Vyse blinked. "No, there's no way. But there's definitely somebody else here! Hurry, we've got to get to the end of this passage!"

"We can't! There's nowhere else _to_ go!" Gilder replied. It was true. The cavern had dead-ended and there was nothing before them save for a strange sliding puzzle on the wall.

"Let's just try it, then. It has to do something," Vyse said, in desperation.

Stepping forward, he attempted to move the puzzle, but the friction between the stones was so great that he was only able to slide the panels a tiny bit. Gilder came up and added his strength, and together they were able to slide things around.

"Any clue on what it is?" Gilder asked, with a small grunt.

"Well…what would Daccat's choice bit of artwork be?" Vyse replied.

"Heh! Something dead." Gilder smirked. "Good thinking, kid. Let's see here…oh! I betcha anything that this is his seal. Move that one up a little."

"Yeah, that looks right. Help me with this other one," Vyse replied.

The going was slow, and it took them many agonizing minutes to rearrange everything into the proper order together. When they had finished, however, they had completed the picture of Daccat's seal – and the floor abruptly dropped out from beneath them.

Both men gave a startled cry as they found themselves half-tumbling, half-sliding down a chute carved into the rock. Bumps and bruises were plentiful as they ungracefully descended, as were the swear words from Gilder's mouth. Eventually they came to an undignified landing at the bottom of another cavern, where they rolled across the floor a ways to a final stop.

"What in the nine hells was that?" Gilder demanded, sitting up and fumbling around in the dark for his pierce-nez. "I'm beginning to wonder about Daccat…"

"Hey…wait…" Vyse grabbed him by the coat sleeve and pointed to an adjacent passage, where a bright white light was growing steadily stronger.

"Whoa…You don't think…?" Gilder exchanged glances with him. Vyse didn't believe in ghosts until that very moment. Both men swallowed thickly.

"The dead will always watch over my treasure…" Gilder murmured. "Great."

"Who's there?!" Vyse called.

There came a duo of gasps.

"Who's there yourself?!" a familiar voice demanded.

"Aw….aw, no way…" Vyse slowly rose to his feet, eyes wide, heart racing, as the white light drew closer still. There in the doorway, with the light actually surrounding her, was Fina, Aika by her side.

"Oh…oh my…" Fina gaped.

"Vyse! It's…it's really you! Ohh, Vyse!" Lunging forward, Aika ran towards him and tackled him in an immense hug. He fell over and nearly had the wind knocked out of him. "You scared me shitless, you great big dummy! Fina and I worked for a month to buy a boat so we could come looking for you!" For once, the tomboy was crying.

"Well! Look at you! I didn't know your…partner…was the cutie I met in Nasr." Gilder stood and took a few steps back, brushing himself off. This caught Aika's attention and she stared up at him incredulously.

"…Gilder? You…you…" Everything suddenly clicked and she leapt to her feet, jabbing a finger at Vyse. "Him! _He's_ your new helmsman, isn't he?! The guy you said knew an Aika! Why didn't you tell me, it could have saved me a lot of heartbreak!"

"And I was supposed to know that you were the right Aika how…?" Gilder asked with a smirk, remaining cool.

"I…er…good point. Heh." Aika blushed and turned away from him.

Slowly, Fina walked forward, head bowed, but Vyse wasn't about to wait for her. He swept forward and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly. Despite her heavy crying, she squeaked in surprise and trembled in his embrace, not quite sure of what was going on.

"I was so afraid you two were dead…" he murmured into her hair. "I wasn't there to protect you…Fina, I'm sorry…."

"Vyse, I…it's okay…" Fina replied, quietly. After a moment, she awkwardly returned the embrace, quite unsure of herself, but nevertheless rested her head on his shoulder. "You can't be held responsible for what Ramir – Ramirez did."

"No matter what the case…I swear that I'll never let anything separate us again. Not like that…" He clutched her a little tighter, sighing.

_Say it, Vyse…_

He couldn't. At least…not with the others around. His courage was faltering and, reluctantly, he stepped away. Fina wiped at her eyes and smiled up at him warmly with a tear-streaked face.

"Fina, are you okay?" Aika asked. Apparently, she hadn't heard a word either of them had said, which was more than fine by Vyse.

"Y-yes, I'll be alright. I'm just so happy!" Fina smiled.

Aika giggled and elbowed Gilder for some reason. Vyse had a hunch that they had been conversing while he and Fina had shared their embrace.

"Well, what're we standing around here for?" Gilder asked, with a grin. "Why don't we celebrate the occasion with some loot?"

"Ooh, I wonder how we're going to be able to carry it all?" Aika mused.

Together, they walked into the next room, which was a large alcove full of treasure chests. There were four normal ones, and an immense, elaborately decorated one in the center of all those, nearly as deep as Gilder was tall. All four stared at it in wide-eyed amazement.

"Ooh, I just can't wait!" Aika squealed.

"Come now, we've gotta treat this like a birthday," Gilder said, grinning. "The big one has to be saved for last.

"Oh, fine." Aika moved over to the first chest and kicked it open. "Oooh! A boomerang! Wow, this one's so light! And it even has a razor on the edge! Heh, guess it's a good thing I lost mine."

"There's some gold in there, too. Bah, it's only two thousand…" Vyse scooped up the coins nevertheless and pocketed them as best he could.

Aika kicked the other three chests opened and was dismayed to find them full of old clothing and an old cutlass. Vyse took it for himself, and Fina pulled out a dress she liked, but nothing else was of their interest.

Finally, rubbing his hands together, Gilder approached the big chest and set to work picking its lock. "Heh. Let's see what the greatest air pirate of all time has to offer…"

The lock clicked as he succeeded in his thievery. Tossing the little wire he had used aside, he grinned, stood, and heaved the lid open. Eagerly, the captain looked inside over the edge of the chest and immediately gave a cry of surprise. "What's this?!"

"Huh?" Aika ran over and stood on tiptoes to peer inside. Vyse followed.

All that was within the chest was a piece of paper and a single gold coin.

"That's what treasure is?" Fina asked, blinking.

Vyse leaned over the side and picked up both of the items. Squinting at the note, he read aloud:

"Brave souls seeking my treasure, do not be discouraged. You already have the greatest treasure of all: friendship. This is the only true treasure in the world. Daccat. P.S.: Now wasn't that fun?"

Gilder exploded with laughter. It was so sudden that Fina jumped back a good two feet.

"I-I don't believe this. No gems? No jewels?!" Aika looked ready to faint. "First the Lost City, then Daccat's Treasure…None of these old legends are paying off at all!"

Vyse began to laugh as well. "The greatest air pirate of all time probably spent all his treasure while he was still alive! You can't take it with you, you know!"

"And this treasure has led us all back together. Friends are more important than any amount of gold," Fina said, with a smile.

"I know…but he could have thrown in at least a little something for our trouble!" Aika protested.

"I didn't know he had such a great sense of humor! A good laugh beats a bunch of gold any day!" Gilder whooped.

Aika glared at him and Vyse. "Some old bag of bones is in his grave laughing at us right now! We ran around like idiots the whole time, and we're still poor!"

Vyse abruptly stopped laughing and groaned. "…I forgot about that."

* * *

Ramirez stared out the windows of the bridge with a stony face. The ship trembled slightly as they approached the swirling curtain of clouds, and became more violent the closer they got. He could feel the unease of his crew but chose to ignore it, instead standing where he was, still as stone. The heat of Nasr was not something he was accustomed to, and the bright light of the sun nearly blinded him even from inside the ship.

"Sir, we're, uh…we're approaching the North Dannel Strait," his observation officer said. "We'll hit the sky rift within five minutes…"

"Redirect all power to the engines, then," he commanded.

Reluctantly, the officers did so.

No ship had ever been created that was strong enough to punch through a sky rift. The turbulent swirling sheets of clouds were so strong that they'd push ships down into Deep Sky before they even had the chance to enter the mass, whereupon they would be crushed into pieces by the intense pressure. The sky rift of Nasr's North Dannel Strait was infamous for being a ship graveyard; many had tried to pass through it, but all had failed. It was the one thing that prevented immediate Valuan invasion, the one thing that kept the two rival countries apart.

But this was the result of Ramirez and Galcian's brainstorming. Half of Nasr was shielded by stone reefs, while the other half was shielded by high mountains that were impossible to fly over. The only two routes into Nasr's capital were through the North and South Dannel Straits. With the North blocked off by the sky rift, all Nasr had to do was guard the south with its entire fleet. As such, invasion was difficult, if not impossible.

Until now.

DeLoco had been working more and more on upgrades for the Armada vessels, to meet the demands of the Empress who insisted a great ship be built for her son. In his studies, he managed to create a more powerful engine, one, he said, that could penetrate sky rifts. It had never been tested, and currently the _Monoceros_ and a fleet of a dozen other battleships were acting as the guinea pigs. Ramirez's men were afraid that the engines would fail them, but he was confident that they would prove effective.

Finally, the sky rift loomed up right before them. Ramirez could hear the winds whipping and could feel it tugging at the boat. The crew had grown uneasily silent.

_Turn back…_ Ramir said. _These men are not Silvites…they don't have the perfect ships that we do. There is still a chance that the ships could fail – which would mean the loss of many innocent lives!_

If they fail, Ramirez told his alter ego, then they deserve to die because they are weak. This is a value even our people hold.

_But the Valuans are _not_ our people,_ came Ramir's reply.

Hence, we can use them as we wish, Ramirez concluded firmly. They are doomed to die whether they fail me or not. The moon is eclipsing their lives.

Suddenly, Ramir seized a hold of him, and he stumbled backwards in surprise. Lifting his head, his eyes momentarily became soft and he watched the crew in their fear direct the ship at an angle towards the sky rift. Ramir stepped off of the command platform and came up behind the navigation officers, each giving them reassuring squeezes on the shoulders. They stared up at him in utter shock and surprise, but he only gave them a kind smile in return.

"We don't have to go through with this if you really don't want to," he said.

"S-sir…"

"No sir, it is our duty," one of them said. "For our Queen and our country, we must not fail. We have pledged our lives to fight for the cause of Valua and if it means we must relinquish them within the next few minutes, so be it."

Ramir smiled. "You have a warrior's heart. I respect that. If that is truly how you feel, then let us sail together into the rift. We shall challenge it as comrades and, if it comes to that point, die together as comrades."

The officers smiled. "Aye, sir."

The rest of the bridge visibly relaxed.

Feeling much better about himself, Ramir returned to his command post, but found he couldn't stand there long. Ramirez was battling against his wills most ferociously, to the point where he needed to excuse himself from the bridge. Sweating as he struggled to hold onto his consciousness, Ramir dashed frantically down the halls and into his room, where he shut and locked the door behind him. He imagined he was locking Ramirez out, running from the shadow that was his darker half. He would have no more of it, no more!

Angrily, Ramirez clasped on to his conscience and held to it fast. It hurt, and, clutching at his head, Ramir fell onto his bed with an agonized cry.

"No! N-no, I won't…won't…do it!"

Ramirez lifted his arm, reached for the little black box on his dresser…

Ramir struggled to fight it, tried to force his arm back down.

You will take it, and I will be rid of you Ramirez told him. You will accept what you have become, and use it to your advantage. I already told you; there _is_ no going back. This is what you wanted, fool, remember? You were betrayed, lied to, and wanted righteous vengeance, so you turned to Lord Galcian. You cannot achieve it as you are; remember, you pledged your life to the man!

_I didn't know what I was getting myself into!_ Ramir replied, desperately fighting the shadows in his mind. _It was a foolish mistake on my part; I admit it! There is still time for redemption, though. All I need is to find Fina…_

Fool! Ramirez roared in his mind. I will have no more of you! Begone!

In a sudden outburst, Ramirez took control again and lunged for the little black box. Frantically, he opened it and withdrew the black moonstone within, clutching it tightly in his hands, holding it over his heart. Immediately a cold energy shot through his nerves, chilling the blood in his veins, making his heart speed up. His mind clamped down on it, and for a few precious seconds he was filled with pleasure and satisfaction.

Then the crystal in his hand began to protest. With a roar of agony, Ramir shriveled away from the edges of his consciousness, retreating back into the pit of his being. A searing pain like no other coursed through his body, as though he were being cut in two right there with a hot, double-edged sword. Tears poured from his eyes and sweat rolled down his body, but he fought to hold on to the strange ebon rock.

Ramirez could feel the veins in his neck bulging. He coughed; a bit of blood dribbled out of the corners of his mouth. Still, he fought; still, he struggled, determined to banish Ramir's influence from his mind for good. His heart beat faster and faster, ready to explode. His body screamed in pain, crying for mercy. The explosion of white light from the crystal in his hand began to dim, and grow dimmer still. He clenched his teeth and willed it to die.

Suddenly, the ship began to violently rock, knocking him off balance. He hit the ground hard and the moonstone flew out of his hand and clattered into a corner. He struggled towards it, fought to regain its possession, but his mind was swimming and he felt ready to pass out. The ship pitched and threw him against the wall, and he could hear the roaring of the winds and the trembling of the steel plates. At that point in time, he had no idea that they were fighting through a sky rift. All he knew was that he needed his moonstone back.

As abruptly as it had started, the turbulence stopped. They had reached the eye of the circular rift and were subjected to calm for the moment. Ramirez picked up his moonstone, stared at it, and then hurled it out the window with all his might.

Feeling much better, though a little lightheaded, Ramirez returned to the bridge where the crew was congratulating itself on a job well done. He slammed the door behind himself, but they didn't notice. Finally, when he had returned to his command platform, the navigation officers that he had so caringly spoken to just minutes before turned and grinned at him.

"We did it, sir! We're going to make it!"

"Of course we are, you fools!" Ramirez snapped. "Quit celebrating and get back to your jobs. Vice captain! What are the radar readouts? Where is Nasr's fleet?"

"Every ship in the fleet is guarding the South Dannel, sir," he replied. "Nasrad is open and completely defenseless. We could take the city without firing a single shot."

"We could, couldn't we?" Ramirez sat down in his chair and frowned. "But we won't. I want Nasrad burnt to the ground. I want its people to suffer in the flames. Let it serve as an example to the others who might oppose us."

"…Aye sir. We'll be within Nasrad's airspace in a few hours."

* * *

After another two weeks of sailing, the group returned to the docks of Nasrad, tired and a little morally defeated. Gilder tried his best to keep their spirits high, but they knew that even he couldn't relate to their current problem, wealthy a pirate as he was. As they wearily trudged away from the inn, where they had just rented themselves two rooms, Vyse took the lead and began to amble towards the bar.

"Let's spend our newly-acquired fortune on something refreshing," he muttered.

"Oh, Vyse…I-I really don't like alcohol…" Fina protested, quietly.

"Hey. C'mere, sit down for a bit." Gilder stopped them by one of the many pools in the main square and sat down on the edge, gesturing for them to do the same. When they had, the rogue captain leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees, rubbing at his goatee absently.

"I guess it'd be an understatement to say I really like you guys and what you do," he said, with a smirk. "I've been thinking about it since we left Daccat's Isle, and I believe that there's plenty of room on the _Claudia_ for you, if you care to join me. You'll have to work with my men and occasionally we'll run into…skeletons…of mine, but if you're willing to work aboard her, I'm willing to sail her anywhere you need to continue your quest."

"Really?" Aika looked up at him with wide eyes. The ruddy orange light from the setting sun reflected off the pool of water and in turn was mirrored in their depths.

"Gilder, I…I don't know what to say…" Vyse was shocked. "The _Little Jack_ was one thing…I mean, Drachma didn't have much in his life, and we gave what he lacked to him. But you…you've got the whole world in front of you. I don't want to just disrupt your adventures."

"What good is an infamous pirate without a ship? Kiddo, you and I are both hunted like an Arcwhale in the summertime. We both love adventure, we both hate Valua, and you need some serious funding. Why should we turn down something that'll be mutually beneficial?" Gilder grinned. "If anyone has the whole world in front of him, it's _you_, Vyse."

"Well…are you sure?" Vyse searched his face, but the captain was still beaming. "Gilder, your ship is going to be subjected to wear and tear like you've never seen before. These Gigas are…are…insanely strong. They could splinter the _Claudia_ like she's nothing if we make one wrong move. I know how much she means to you…"

"Kid, lemme tell you something." Gilder smirked, leaning close towards him. "When I was about fourteen, I worked for a racing legend in Cape Claudia by the name of Faulkner. Faulkner taught me how to sail and what it was to love life and risk the unknown. When he retired five years later, he gave his ship to me and I renamed her the _Claudia_ after my hometown. I set out alone without a crew to see what the world had in store for me, and eventually ran into a couple of Blue Rogues from the Sky Shark Clan. They took me on one of their adventures and I decided from then on that piracy was my calling.

"Heh. The point of my story is…I was grateful that Faulkner had taken me under his wing. He showed me a life that I could only dream about. I wanted to return the favor somehow, but never could. Kid, if I help you…y'know, take you under my wing…that'd mean a lot to me."

Vyse smiled. He didn't really know what to say in response.

Suddenly, he felt Fina stiffen beside him. She began to tremble violently, eyes wide in fear. Aika reached over and placed a comforting arm around the girl, watching her with concern.

"Fina? What's the matter?"

"S-something…something bad is near…I can feel a lot of negative energy…" Fina whispered. "It's just like before Pirate Isle was attacked. It's just like…" She suddenly sprang to her feet. "No, I know this feeling! I know who it is! H-he's coming…He's here!"

"He who? Who's here?" Vyse asked, standing as well.

"R-Ramirez! He's here!" Fina turned her eyes to the sky. Vyse looked up as well and gasped as a fleet of a dozen Valuan battleships, led by Ramirez's flagship, descended upon the city. An air raid siren began to sound the alarm and people dropped what they were carrying and scattered in fear.

"No way…it can't be! How'd he break through the fleet?" Vyse gawked.

"I dunno, kid, but I say we move!" Gilder shouted, as the ships began to fire upon the defenseless city. Like a fiery hail of comets, cannonballs and shells as large as Vyse was tall began to relentlessly barrage the city. In bursts of rubble, glass and fire, everything began to explode around them, showering them with debris.

"Hurry! We need to get to the docks!" Vyse cried.

Flames licked at their feet as the city continued to collapse behind them. Screams of terror and agony filled the air, threatening to rend Vyse's Blue Rogue's heart from his chest. Cannonballs landed nearby, shell-shocking them off their feet and sending them flying. Vyse yowled as flaming debris battered his back and the back of his neck, and he struggled to put it out before hurrying on.

They continued to run, dodging cannon fire and debris, and leaping over the bodies of the dead and the injured. Blood stained the market tiles everywhere, and people lay scattered with missing limbs, torn flesh, or worse. It was making Fina sick to her stomach. Vyse scooped her up and ran with her in his arms, as she looked ready to faint from the carnage.

Another explosion swept them off their feet, and Aika gave a cry. Vyse and Gilder were thrown through the archway of the city walls and out onto the docks, much of which was either on fire or had crumbled away off the island's shoreline. Vyse did his best to shield Fina from their fall, earning quite a few bumps on the head as a result. When they came to a rest, he groaned and sat up with her.

"Aika…where's Aika?" she asked.

Vyse looked up and glanced around. His best friend was nowhere to be seen. He noticed that the archway had partially collapsed behind them and was blocked off by a veil of flames, and suddenly a cold fear washed over him.

"Aika?" he called. "AIKA!"

No response.

Gritting his teeth, Gilder sprang to his feet, drawing a pistol from out of his coat, and disappeared into the burning wreckage without so much as a word.

"W-what's he doing?" Fina asked, horrified. "He's going to get hurt!"

"He's…he's going to go search for Aika…" Vyse said, stunned.

* * *

Gilder dove through the gap in the gate rubble, swatting the singe marks of the fire off his coat. Immediately on the other side he found himself confronted by Valuan guards who were merrily romping about pillaging the city; he cocked his pistol, aimed at one of their heads, and fired. Even the best armor did little against his specially made silver moonstone bullets. He ducked behind some debris and reloaded as the guard's head exploded somewhere in the distance.

Somebody returned fire at him. He waited a few seconds to detect their attacking pattern, popped up from behind his haven, and took a shot. He managed to fell two guards before having to duck away again. Again he reloaded, and brought out his other gun as well. Time was one thing they didn't have and he couldn't sit here all day playing tag with these men.

He waited for a pause in the fire, then sprang out from behind the rubble and shot off both of his pistols in tandem. The guards scattered and three more fell beneath the gun slinging. He rolled behind the next closest heap of rubble, lathered, rinsed, and repeated several more times until he found himself a little low on bullets. He had left most of them on board the lifeboat with the rest of his and Vyse's supplies.

Some more explosions caused a temporary cease-fire as the Valuans ducked away. Gilder jumped behind the piles of rubble they had taken shelter in and pulled off some point-blank shots before running off again. A bullet whizzed past his ear and another caught the edge of his coat and tore it slightly. He continued to run and dove into a flaming pile of debris near the inn.

He could hear the other Valuan soldiers requesting for backup. Peeking over the edge of a couple of boards, he saw some mildly wounded Nasrean guards coming down from the palace to engage their mortal enemies, and most of his problems were gone. The few who remained to assault him quickly lost their heads.

Putting the pistol in his offhand away, Gilder suddenly began to feel sore in his left shoulder. He rubbed at it and immediately felt a thick dampness through the fabric of his coat. Looking down, he realized that he had taken a bullet to the shoulder, somehow, but the wound didn't seem to be too critical. He spit on it and ignored it for the time being.

With his eyes forever on the actions of the Valuans as they fought the Nasreans, Gilder crept out from the rubble and began to dig around immediately adjacent to it. He heaved heaps of stone and wood out of the way, clenching his teeth as each movement caused the wound in his shoulder to tear open a little wider. Finally, he found her, buried beneath some of the scattered rubble from the collapsed archway. Gilder picked the unconscious Aika up, held her close in his arms, and ran back for the docks.

* * *

Vyse and Fina were beginning to get anxious. The gunfire had lasted a long time, and Gilder had been gone for nearly ten minutes. They clung to each other, unable to block the worst of fears in the back of their minds. Neither liked to think of what could have happened.

Suddenly, a bulky silhouette appeared behind the curtain of fire blocking off the archway. A moment later Gilder stepped through it, clutching a bleeding and unconscious Aika in his arms. With cries of relief, the two ran over to him.

When they were out of the immediate fire zone, Gilder carefully lay Aika down and tugged off his scarf. He began to wipe away at the soot and dirt that had accumulated on her face and the blood dribbling down the side of her head. Her wound from the lifeboat accident had opened back up and was bleeding quite steadily. He tied the scarf around her head and then scooped her back up in his arms again.

"Let's go."

Together, they ran down to the far side of the docks, where Gilder had moored the ship. They had barely gotten halfway there, however, before a grim reality hit them: the ship was no more. It had been splintered by a fragmentation shell and what didn't drop into the sky now lay in burning heaps all around.

"Pity, isn't it? That ship looked expensive, too," came a voice from behind them. Vyse whirled around to find a dark man standing there with a dozen guards behind him. No, he realized – the man looked a lot like Fina!

"Ramir!" Fina cried.

"Silence!" he snapped, bitterly. "You don't know how much trouble I've gone through looking for you and your friends. Make no mistake, Fina, I am here as your enemy. You'd do well to tell your filthy rogue there that he had better surrender or die. And one more thing…" He narrowed his eyes. "My _name_ is Ramirez."

Vyse gasped. This young man, barely older than he was, was Admiral Ramirez? This was the person who had ruthlessly shot them down with no mercy? _This_ was the Admiral that many supposedly feared?

"R-Ramirez…"

"I said silence!" He drew his sword and pointed it at her. It was of a craftsmanship that Vyse had never seen the likes of in all his years of plundering. It looked like a cruel and wicked weapon. "You, there! _Vyse_. It's your decision. Surrender or die."

Vyse scowled and drew his cutlasses. "You heartless bastard. I'm going to make you pay for such ruthlessness. I'll—"

"Vyse, no!" Fina stepped in front of him, arms spread wide, eyes pleading. "Y-you can't fight him; he's too powerful! J-just do as he says. We have to surrender."

"Fina…?" He searched her face. She seemed to be on the brink of crying.

"Please, Vyse…please…"

Vyse hesitated. Inside, he was burning with rage, screaming for revenge upon the man who had killed Drachma and just spilled the blood of hundreds of innocent Nasrean lives. His oath as a Rogue called for him to put a stop to it, to cast this man down or die. But the look in Fina's eyes, the pain and horror so evident within, pierced his righteous fury and, reluctantly, slouching in defeat, he sheathed his cutlasses.

Ramirez smirked. "I knew you'd see it my way. Guards! Surround and bind them and take them to the ship. Search their hotel rooms for the moon crystals."

"Ramirez…why are you doing this?" Fina asked, as the guards surrounded them with their bayonets.

Ramirez stared at her for a moment, then turned and walked away.


	20. Flight of the Delphinus

"…I can't believe we're back in Valua again." Aika sighed, hanging miserably through the bars of her cell window. The view did nothing to cheer her mood. Outside it was dark and gloomy, as Valua always was. There was nothing to look at except the cold steel of the battleships on patrol in the distance and the piercing rays of the spotlights as they moved at random through the clouds.

Aika wasn't sure who had ordered it, but she had received proper medical attention before being thrown into her cell. Her head wound was cleaned and bandaged and all of her scrapes and bruises efficiently washed. It didn't seem like any normal Valuan would have subjected them to such humane treatment, and she certainly doubted that it was that despicable creature Ramirez's idea. Just the thought of his cold eyes made her shiver.

At least she knew things couldn't get much worse.

"Wonder where they're keeping Vyse…" she murmured. She could imagine the rogue, being absolutely sour in his cell. Vyse was a free spirit and she knew he abhorred confinement. Being in jail was likely a fate worse than death for him. Then again, Gilder seemed to share a similar carefree whimsy and she wondered how he was faring, too. Of course, there were all those rumors about the crazy amount of times he had been jailed…

Then there was Fina. Aika wasn't sure where they had taken her, but she knew they hadn't thrown her into a prison cell as they had with all the others. She was likely being interrogated about the moon crystals, and Aika prayed to the red moon and its Lord of Protection that they weren't causing her any physical harm. Fina had proven to have wills of steel if she needed them, but she doubted the Silvite could withstand torture if they decided to subject her to it.

"Which cell are they keeping her in?" a deep voice asked, in Valuan. Aika turned to see two silhouettes headed her way, a bulky figure and a Valuan guard. They stepped into the light filtering through her window and she decided that she did not like what she saw.

Like any other soldier, the guard was nondescript, but the bulky figure with him just _had_ the look of a pervert. He was about seven feet tall, all muscle, wide of shoulder and trim of waist. His skin was fairly tanned as far as Valuans went, although it went well with his dark brown hair and sparkling clear blue eyes. What didn't go well was the way he had styled his hair: it was slicked forward into a sort of wedge shape that looked quite awkward. His nose was a little on the big side, but he had a strong, square jaw, cleft chin, and striking features that could have been handsome. He wasn't wearing a shirt, so as he moved his muscles rippled beneath his skin, making the tattoo of a rose on his left shoulder appear to animate. His chest and arms were covered in thick coatings of hair.

"Right here, Admiral," the guard said, unlocking the cell. Aika pressed her back against the wall and folded her arms across her chest. She wasn't in the mood to answer any questions.

"Good, excellent. You can go make yourself useful somewhere else now." The apparent Admiral smiled at the guard winningly.

"Huh? But sir, I can—"

"That's an order."

"Yes, sir."

The Admiral waited for the guard to leave before turning towards Aika and kicking the cell door shut with a naughty grin. "Well well…nice legs, curves in all the right places…I suppose I've seen better, but you're not too bad."

"Stow it in your aft deck," Aika snapped. "Just tell me what you want and then get the hell out of here."

"What do I want? Heh heh heh…" He began to slowly advance on her. For each step he took, she took one back into a corner. "You know, I don't understand what's with them, bringing you in here all banged up. I'm supposed to be doing the banging."

"Alright, just who are you?" Aika demanded, already feeling herself crammed into the corner. She crossed her arms and her legs and tried to turn her back to him.

"You don't know?" He paused for a moment at that, blinking, clearly surprised. "_I_ am Admiral Vigoro del Fuerte, commander of the Third Fleet of the Armada. I'm surprised you haven't heard of me. The women I've slept with love to brag…" He smirked.

"That's wonderful. Thank the moons I'm not one of them," Aika retorted. "Where is Fina? What did you do with her?"

"Fina? Oh, the Silvite. They took her to the council chambers." Vigoro continued to advance. Aika felt her flesh beginning to crawl. "But that's not important, Red. I think you and I need to get a little more personal. I know this cell is drab, but I'm here to make you feel right at home."

"Yuck! You're disgusting!" Aika cringed away from him. "You have a serious body hair problem! And…and what's that smell?"

"C'mon, Red…" He advanced, and began to feel along her body. She fought against him but he was overwhelmingly strong and managed to pin her to the wall. "I know you'll grow to like me."

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed.

* * *

"…I hate Valua," Vyse grumbled as he hung out the bars of his window.

"Yeah. They don't have good hospitality here." Gilder pulled a cigarette out of his sleeve and lit it with a touch of fire magic. He puffed on it momentarily as he scuffed the toe of one boot against the ground. "Hey, guards! Can we get some food in here? How about a drink!"

"Shut the hell up!" the watch guard yelled back from down the hall.

"Heh."

Vyse sighed, plopping miserably down on the cold hard steel of the prison bed. "This is just great. We return to Nasrad poor, almost die there, get captured, are separated from Aika and Fina, and to top it all off, we lost the moon crystals to Ramirez. What's next? Maybe a little torture? A perfect end to a perfect day."

"Aw, come on now. You're just making things worse." Gilder folded his arms behind his head and leaned back casually. "You worry too much."

"I have reason…" Vyse grumbled.

Minutes passed in silence. Gilder continued to puff on his cigarette contentedly until the guard came and took it away from him, only to smoke it himself.

"Grubby bastard!" Gilder called after him.

A sudden beating of wings caught Vyse's attention then. It was subtle, but when he looked up he saw Willy come flying through the bars of the window. "Hello! Smell smoke! Hello!"

"Hahaha…I figured that'd help you find me. How ya doin', Willybird?" With a grin, Gilder extended his arm to the parrot and he landed upon it with a ruffling of green feathers.

"Very bad! Very bad!" he squawked.

"Is that so? Well, you did have to fly all the way over here." Gilder chuckled.

Vyse blinked. "Gilder…there's a note tied to Willy's leg with a piece of wire…"

"Huh! So there is. Let's see here…" Carefully, he unwound the wire and then unrolled the note. Willy fluttered back over to the windowsill and perched there, preening his tail feathers. "'We will attack the Fortress at midnight and await your arrival. The Claudia.' Heh. This isn't the first time my men have had to break me out of prison. They know the routine."

"Yeah, but there's still one problem. How do we get out of here?" Vyse asked.

Gilder grinned slyly and held up the wire. "Don't worry. There was a wire tied around Willy's leg for a reason. Willy! Tell my men to wait for me with a barrel of loqua! I'm gonna need it after this…"

"Aye aye!" Willy squawked as he flew away. "Wait with loqua! Awwk!"

Gilder grinned and then crouched down by the door to begin discreetly picking the lock.

"Heh. Should have known. Is there anything you can't do, Gilder?" Vyse asked, leaning back on his bed. Gilder only chuckled again in reply. Absently, Vyse began to fold up the paper, until he noticed that there was writing on the back. "Hey…there's something else written here."

"Oh? Well, what's it say?"

Vyse held the note up into the light to read it. "'To my darling Gilder. I will fight for your freedom too, my love! Your soulmate, Clara.' And there's some lipstick marks at the bottom."

Gilder flinched. "Clara! She's here, too?!"

"Well, judging by the letter…yeah…" Vyse replied.

With a sigh, Gilder stood and took on a contemplative look. "Hey Vyse…we don't really have to get out of here, do we?"

"What are you talking about?" Vyse demanded. "We'll be hanged!"

"Hmm…being hanged…or being stuck with Clara. Tough choice. Mm…ah well." Shrugging, Gilder tossed the wire aside and pushed the door open. "Let's go, kiddo. I know where they put our weapons."

* * *

Enrique was playing the violin for lack of better things to do when there came a soft rapping at his door. Blinking, he carefully set the rosewood instrument aside on his bed and went to open it, surprised to see Belleza standing there on the other side.

"Belleza?"

"I'm sorry, Highness. May I come in a moment?" she asked, softly.

"Erm…of course." Enrique let her in and then closed the door behind her. Belleza settled down on his bed and he realized that she looked troubled. It took a lot to upset such a composed woman. "What's wrong?"

"I've…just gotten an earful of recent news." Belleza stiffened a bit, then glanced out the windows at the Grand Fortress. "It's none too pleasant, but it's something you should know. Your mother's likely been withholding the information from you."

Enrique blinked again, almost afraid to hear what she had to say. "What is it?"

Belleza sighed. "Remember when Ramirez left to go 'test' those engines for DeLoco? He 'tested' them out on Nasrad. He drove the entire fleet of ships through the North Dannel sky rift and attacked the city while it was defenseless. Last I heard, they're still counting the dead."

Enrique stood rooted to the spot. "You…you're kidding me…"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness." Belleza smiled sadly. "That's not the last of it either, I fear."

"There's more?" Enrique swallowed.

"The Silvite…Fina…she was in Nasrad with her air pirate companions," Belleza replied. "Ramirez captured them all and brought them back here. Vyse is being held with the other two pirates in the Grand Fortress right now. Ramirez is keeping Fina locked up in the council chambers. For some reason, he doesn't want anybody talking to her."

"Oh moons…" Enrique bowed his head. "I can only imagine what Mother plans on doing with them all…I know it will be horrible. Belleza, this isn't justice!" He sighed and flopped down on the bed next to her. "I…I've got to stop her…I've got to try…"

"Enrique, I don't think she'll listen readily to anything you have to say…" Belleza's smile was sad.

"I know…I know…" Enrique drooped a little more. "But I have to try. How else can I make a difference?"

"…I can think of one way, but it's risky," Belleza replied. "And if you choose to follow through with it, you didn't hear it from me."

Enrique blinked, looked up at her, and slowly broke into a grin. "What are you deviating this time?"

Belleza laughed. "It's quite simple, really. Go free Vyse…and then join up with him."

Enrique stared at her. The thought had never crossed his mind.

"But…what if he won't take me? What if I'm attacked for my position?" he asked.

Belleza only chuckled and shook her head. "Enrique, Vyse is an honorable man with a good head on his shoulders. He wouldn't attack you any sooner than he'd attack me. If you can't deal with him…then this world really is doomed."

"Mmm…" Enrique chewed on his lower lip in thought, debating his options for many minutes. Abruptly he stood, put his violin and music away, and headed for the door.

"I want to see what I can do about Mother before I try anything drastic. Wait here for me, please?"

Belleza smiled warmly. "Of course, my Prince."

Enrique hurried down the stairs and through the varying halls of the tower, sliding down banisters and skipping steps as he went – whenever there weren't any guards or maids around. He knew that proper manners and protocol were expected of him – it had been endlessly drilled into his head – but it didn't mean he liked it overly much.

His shortcuts led him quickly enough to the throne room, where he found Galcian conversing with his mother. He stepped into the hall just as they finished discussing the one topic he hoped to prevent.

"…Bring the crystals and the girl to me. As for the Air Pirates…I want them executed in Lower City! I want the people to witness their deaths!" his mother crowed.

Galcian bowed to her in his typical stiff, stoic manner. "Yes, Your Majesty. It shall be as you—"

"Wait!" Enrique called, running forward. Galcian stepped back and bowed to him as well as he approached his mother on the throne. "Mother! I just heard that our fleet razed Nasrad while it was defenseless! How could you do such a thing?"

"Enrique?" His mother peered down her nose at him. "How can you expect us to maintain our rule without a little bloodshed?"

"A little is one thing, but Mother – we just murdered thousands of innocent people! I know we're acquiring new lands, but if we continue with these brutal tactics, the people will rise up and rebel against us!" He stepped forward, locking gazes with her. "Please, we've made our point. Pull our troops out of Nasr."

"Silence, Enrique!" she snapped, making him flinch. "How can you be so weak and cowardly when you are to inherit this great empire I have built? You cannot walk the path of an emperor as pathetic as you are. Your weakness sickens me! Be gone from my sight!"

Enrique bowed his head so that she could not see his scowl. "As you wish…Mother."

He spun on the heel of his boot and walked away as calmly as he could.

Belleza was surprised to see the anger on his face when he returned. She knew as well as anyone else did that it was next to impossible to get Enrique mad. It took nearly all of his will to refrain from slamming the door behind him.

"I…assume it didn't go too well…" she said.

"Wouldn't even listen to me…" Enrique gritted his teeth. "She thinks I'm weak just because I try to solve things peacefully! It makes no sense!"

"Her power has corrupted her too much…" Belleza shook her head, sadly. Then, "Enrique, what in the world are you doing?"

"She told me to get out of her sight, so I'm packing my things and taking them to my ship," he replied.

"Enrique, you can't take her seriously, nor are you going to get away with sleeping on board your ship…" she said.

"I am taking her seriously, because I choose to. And I'm not going to sleep on it…I'm going to leave on it."

Belleza's eyes went wide. "Enrique! It's not even finished yet!"

"She's seaworthy and she can defend herself. That's all I need," he replied, beginning to stuff his most precious possessions into a small bag.

"Hmm. I can't change your mind, can I?" He caught her smiling out of the corner of his eye, and when he turned to look at her, Belleza laughed. "Enrique, you have the purest heart I know of. If you really are bent on leaving Valua, I'll help you."

"Really?" Enrique beamed.

Belleza nodded and stood. "I'll go prepare your ship for you. I'll open the proper locks and clear out the canals. I'll pre-stock her with food and everything from the _Lynx_; I won't be going anywhere for a while. And, of course, I'll stick the biggest moonstone we have into _the_ cannon…I somehow have a feeling you'll need it if you plan on taking Vyse with you."

"That's wonderful!" Enrique replied. "In the meantime, I'll go secure the moon crystals before Galcian can get to them. I'll stow them safely on board the ship, then I'll see about releasing Vyse. I can do it discreetly if I say I just wish to interrogate him and his friends in private."

"And Fina?" she asked.

"Ramirez is my subordinate," Enrique replied. "I hate pulling rank, but I'll do it if I have to. Fina and I are good friends and I know she'll welcome my aid gladly."

"I think we've got a plan, then. A little trickery really does go a long way." She smiled to him, warmly. "I likely won't be able to see you once we depart from this room. I'll certainly do my best to distract the other Admirals, especially Galcian. Good luck, Highness. Give Vyse my wishes, too."

"Of course," he replied, returning the smile. "I know of the mutual respect between you two. Together, let's give Valua a chance!"

"I'll most certainly do my best!" Belleza winked and then walked out, closing the door behind her.

Immediately, Enrique returned to packing his small bag. He made sure to fold everything in tightly so it would not clink about and make noise, then opened his armoire to withdraw a few select pieces of more casual clothing and his beloved golden rapier. He packed the clothing away and buckled the rapier securely around his waist, finally slinging the bag over his back. Satisfied that everything was in order, he moved to the side of the armoire and gave it a hefty shove. It slowly moved to the side, rubbing against the marble of the floor with a loud and unpleasant noise. He paused, winced, and tried again, pushing until there was just enough room for him to squeeze behind it and into the secret passage on the other side.

All of the passages in the Valuan palace were long unused and forgotten, but Enrique used them constantly and kept them both fairly clean and occasionally lit. He always had moonstone torches burning in the passage that led down from his room, but in some of the others he had to concentrate some electric magic into his palm in order to light the way. He quickly wound his way down from his tower and then past the main keep. He knew that the moon crystals were being heavily guarded within the royal treasury and had to pause for a minute to try and remember his way there.

Enrique doubled back and ran back up the hall. At a few doorways he stopped and peeked inside to get his bearings, and managed to do so without getting caught. Almost all of the castle's trap doors were hidden behind a tapestry or piece of furniture of some sort, and none of those had been moved in decades.

After a long trek down a particularly dusty hallway he never used, Enrique found the door to the treasury and opened it a crack. A long tapestry was in the way and he brushed it aside, finding himself within the actual safe room, which was fortified by thick walls and an enormous door with multiple locks on it. The door was currently open, revealing the two guards patrolling it on the other side. They were amongst the castle's elite and known for their loyalty to his mother.

Enrique bit his lower lip. The moon crystals were sitting on two separate pedestals in the center of the room, under the cover of glass encasements. Littering the rest of the safe hall was a plethora of gold and gems and jewels that spilled onto the floor. He realized that treading across the piles of coins would be difficult without making any noise. He preferred not to attract the attention of the guards; on impulse they would lock him in the vault without realizing who he was and then his plans would be ruined.

_If I'm going to attempt travel with Vyse, I'd better learn how to steal…_ he thought to himself. It wasn't exactly the most noble of notions, but he felt he didn't have any other choice. If he could secure the moon crystals, he might earn the respect of the pirates if Fina couldn't vouch for him.

Hanging back for the moment, Enrique surveyed the layout of the room and considered his options. The piles were thickest up against the walls and thinnest on the floor, and the area immediately around the moon crystals was in and of itself bare. He realized that the metal on his boots would be his worst enemy and promptly removed them. Treading in his socks would lead to much softer footfalls and, he hoped, enough silence to successfully cross the coin piles. He removed his fencing vest and beret as well, leaving himself clothed only in black. It felt a little odd, but he figured it was his best option.

Slinging his bag back over his shoulder, Enrique peeked back through the crack in the door and was relieved to see that the guards hadn't moved. He lifted his hand and, uttering a spell incantation under his breath, sent a small stream of electricity up into the vault's light fixtures. The light bulbs burst, which in turn put out the rest of the light in the room as the fuses blew.

"Aw geez, not again…" one of the guards said. "I don't know why Her Majesty is so thrilled about this electricity stuff. It's so unreliable! Everywhere I go the power keeps going out."

The second guard sighed. "Aye, tell me about it. Want me to go find the electrician?"

"Naw, I'll go do it. I think I know where she is," the first replied. "Stay here in case an air pirate escapes or something."

They both laughed at that.

Enrique watched as the first guard left and grinned to himself. With the exception of the two moon crystals glowing brightly within the confines of the vault, the room and those connected to it was now pitch black.

_Now for the moment of truth_, he thought. With a deep and quiet breath, Enrique squeezed out the door and carefully slid his way down onto one of the coin piles. Some of the coins on top slipped and slid down a ways, which caused him to immediately freeze, but luckily it wasn't loud enough to be heard through the guard's helmet. After a few moments, the prince continued, carefully shimmying his way down the pile and onto more level ground.

The coins crunched together slightly under his feet as he lightly tread across them. Enrique thanked the moons for his small frame and crept forward with a bit more confidence, coming at last to the moon crystals in all their radiant glory. He ducked slightly behind the pillars and then lifted his hands to the glass covering the pyramid-shaped red crystal. He removed it slowly, without a sound, and settled it onto the ground.

Suddenly Enrique realized something. The guard would notice a change in the light once he removed the crystals, as dark as it was. Luckily, the light from the red crystal was more dominant over that of the green crystal and he was quickly able to think of a way to emulate it. He removed the crystal and then focused a fire spell in between his two hands. He forced it, molded it, and compacted it together, until it was a fireball that was barely small enough to rest upon the pedestal. He carefully settled it down on there, grateful that magical fire could burn for hours without fuel, and then stuffed the red moon crystal into his sack. He followed a similar tactic with the diamond-shaped green crystal, but, since Green Magic could take no physical form, he was forced to leave the pedestal bare. There was a slight change in the light level and Enrique tensed, but luckily the guard didn't seem to notice it. Heaving a quiet sigh of relief, he stuffed the crystal into his bag and then turned back for the door.

Climbing back up the gold piles, he realized, would make much more noise than stepping down them -- enough to get him caught. He needed another plan and glanced around the room, eyes quickly landing on the tapestry. In a daring move, he took a bit of a running start and leapt for the wall, over the piles of gold. He managed to grab on to the tapestry, anchored firmly to the wall, and dangle over them.

The action had been enough to draw the guard's attention. He glanced into the room, but Enrique was sufficiently cloaked in the darkness and it was still bright within, so he thought nothing of it and returned his focus to the hallway. Enrique allowed himself to breathe again and used the tapestry to swing through the door.

When he was again safely on the other side, Enrique sat down for a moment to put his boots back on and suddenly realized what he had just done. His eyes widened a bit, and then he had to force himself to hold back his laughter. What a nice little story this would make!

With his vest and beret back on, Enrique picked up his pack and headed for the passage that would exit into Upper City. From there he could take the train to the Grand Fortress and safely stow his loot away before embarking on the next part of his mission.

The trek through Upper City and the train ride were uneventful. Enrique sat back as they glided along the rails brooding. Belleza had brought up a good point: his ship was plenty seaworthy, yes, but she was not complete. She was designed to be the strongest ship in the Armada, and while her cannons were all properly installed, her engine functional, her electronics wired and her rooms furnished, she lacked any real armaments and had a relatively weak and venerable hull. As powerful as she was meant to be, she couldn't even sail though a stone reef in her current condition, let alone a sky rift. If the Armada attacked him while he was fleeing with Vyse, there was a chance that they could not outlast the fight. He'd have to rely solely on the ship's overwhelming offensive power rather than on her sturdiness.

They pulled up at the Grand Fortress and he disembarked, heading straight for the docks. He hurried down a few side passages and then to the docking bays where the flagships were kept. Currently all of the Admirals were in Madera, many against their will. Belleza had returned after her defeat, decommissioned by Galcian until further notice. After fleeing Ixa'Taka, DeLoco had returned as well, as disgruntled as ever. Gregorio was rarely dispatched anymore, due mostly to his age, but also because they really didn't need anything barricaded or defended anymore. Vigoro's ship was currently under mandatory maintenance, as he had neglected it for so long in favor of his own personal endeavors. Alfonso had been told that he would never fly again by Enrique's disgusted mother, yet his rank had not been removed. And Ramirez, who had only recently returned triumphant, had been busy at Galcian's side. Galcian himself rarely left Madera unless on extremely important business.

The flagships were all lined up in a row. Enrique followed the loading platform over Belleza's _Lynx_, Gregorio's _Auriga_, Vigoro's _Draco_, Alfonso's _Cygnus_, DeLoco's _Chameleon_, and Ramirez's refueling _Monoceros._ All of the ships showed the evolution in Valuan technology and even then were currently being outfitted with the newest of DeLoco's inventions. Enrique found it funny that the floating fortresses were still supposed to pale in comparison to his own vessel.

He continued on to the next room, where one ship was kept apart from the rest. It was as streamlined as any sailing vessel could get, gracefully pointed at the bow and only slowly narrowing out to the stern, with a hull that was curved in a bit of a wave shape to help cut the wind and two long wings protruding down from the stern to give it balance, stability, and dexterity. It was larger than any of the other flagships, and longer by several yards as well; the deck was completely flat and layered with cannons of the highest caliber, mounted turrets that could cover the ship from all directions except behind. The bridge rose high up behind them, elevated on a tower that eventually led to a lookout point at the top. A wide observation deck swept out from the bridge and over a few of the cannons, offering the captain a wide view of anything around him.

Unlike the other flagships, she wasn't painted much. For the most part she was left in her natural steely silver color, though she was trimmed here and there in purple to represent the royal family, in a thick stripe along the hull and across the dragon motifs on the bridge and galley. In bold letters along her side was the word _Delphinus_.

Enrique boarded his ship to find that Belleza had already fulfilled her promise. The navigational and control panels were all activated and ready and everything was set into its proper order. Enrique opened one of the storage compartments and stowed his bag inside, locking it for the moment. With that, he left the docks and headed for the prison area of the Grand Fortress.

When he arrived in the foyer, Enrique realized that he had no clue where Vyse was being held. He approached the warden who sat at his desk and tapped on it lightly to get his attention.

"Excuse me…"

"Ah! Your Highness, I didn't notice you come in!" Quickly, the warden rose to his feet and bowed humbly. "Forgive me. How might I be of service?"

"I wish to interrogate the air pirate Vyse and his companions," Enrique replied. "Could you show me what level they are on?"

"Nonsense, Highness. The cells are not fitting for one of your stature. I will bind the prisoners and bring them to you. Just wait here, if you please." With that, the guard bowed and then left.

_So…_ Enrique thought, sitting down on a corner of the desk. _I finally get to meet the legendary air pirate, Vyse. If the stories about him are true, he'll look like a demon and breathe fire. But I have a feeling that he really has been fighting for the right reasons, if what Fina told me has any truth to it. And even Ramirez said that Silvites do not lie…_

About ten minutes passed before the guard returned, out of breath.

"Your Highness, emergency! The air pirates have escaped and we found Admiral Vigoro unconscious in one of the cells!" he panted.

"What?" Enrique's eyes went wide. That was not something he had been expecting in the least, but he had to force back a smile.

_Heh…they're trying to escape from the Grand Fortress again…_

"Very good. Thank you for informing me," he said aloud. "Return to your post. I will deal with them personally."

"Highness, they're too dangerous…" the guard protested.

"Order all the doors to be shut. Let no one in or out," Enrique ordered. "I assure you I can take this on my own."

"…Right away, Highness," the guard replied, running off again.

* * *

A bullet to the leg was all it took to set Aika free. Vigoro apparently had been all talk. Vyse and Gilder averted their eyes as she put her clothes back on, cursing the Admiral's name the entire time.

"Men who attempt rape are cowards…" Vyse fumed. "Gilder! Just shoot him in the head!"

"Vyse, you know that's not the way of a Blue Rogue," Gilder replied. "Though I've extreme hate for it myself. He should be castrated and have his balls thrown to the fishes, little as they may be."

Vyse scowled, whirled around, and kicked the unconscious Vigoro in the gut with a furious cry. He took more swipes, until Gilder was forced to restrain him.

"Easy, Vyse, easy!" he cried. "All you're gonna accomplish is attracting undue attention to us."

Vyse clenched his teeth and remained tense in Gilder's grasp, panting with rage. "I'll kill him, Gilder. One day, when he's not so defenseless, I swear it. I'll kill him!"

"And I'll be right beside ya, kiddo…" the captain replied, grimly.

With a quietness that was far more characteristic of Fina, Aika approached Vyse and placed a gentle hand upon his shoulder. "Vyse, it's okay. He didn't…do anything. But if you hadn't come when you did…" She shuddered.

Vyse only sighed. "I'm sorry, Aika…you shouldn't have had to go through this in the first place. I should have just ran my sword through Ramirez when I had the chance…"

"Hey, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?" Aika hugged him tightly. "Besides, your surrendering meant a lot to Fina, I could tell. Haven't you noticed by now that she seems to have some connection to Ramirez?"

"He does look a lot like her…" Vyse lifted his head in sudden realization. "Guys! You don't think…he couldn't be…"

"He's another Silvite. Has to be," Gilder finished for him.

Aika's eyes widened. "Erg…it's a good thing you surrendered then, Vyse. You've seen Fina's powers…Imagine what Ramirez is capable of…"

Vyse shuddered, then stepped away and headed for the door. "Let's not stay here any longer than we have to. I'm despising this place more and more by the minute. We need to find Fina and get the hell out of here."

"Right behind you," Gilder replied, jogging after him.

They ran down the hall, where Gilder dispatched some more guards with a few well-aimed shots. They crumpled to the ground and the trio hurried on to the elevators. Vyse tried the one they had come up to Aika from their cell in and found it not working.

"What…?"

"Somebody else might be in it. Let's not wait to find out, hm?" Gilder said.

Vyse nodded and took the elevator next to it. He wasn't overly good at reading Valuan, but he managed to get them down a few floors in any case. When the elevator door opened again, they found themselves in the lobby of the lower row of cannons that fortified the Grand Fortress gate. Vyse picked a battery room and dashed inside as he heard footsteps approaching.

They found themselves in a room that was empty save for a long shaft that was as big around as the _Little Jack_ was wide. Many ships could have easily sailed into it if they folded their masts. Sitting in a strange lock-like mechanism was a bullet that was equally as gargantuan. Vyse and Aika stared up at it with wide eyes, realizing that the room they were in didn't house a cannon – it _was_ a cannon.

Aika gawked at it as if she had a loose jaw. "Th-that thing is…gigantic! It could take out any ship in one blow! Gilder, how can the _Claudia_ even stand a chance against this?"

There came no response.

"Gilder?"

"Ah! Here I am. Heheh, sorry…" he replied, running back up to them.

Vyse blinked. "Where were you?"

Gilder shrugged. "Had to take care of something real quick. Don't worry about it, you'll see soon enough. C'mon, let's keep going. We can run through the shaft to the other side."

"Hope it won't fire…" Aika replied.

They hopped into the cannon shaft, which to them was little more than an enormous steel tunnel, and ran along its length to the other side. It took a few minutes, but they were able to drop down from the cannon's gaping mouth and onto a maintenance walkway beneath it. Gilder reasoned that there must be a whole network of the maintenance platforms up the entire length of the gate and jogged down the catwalk looking for another way up. After a little while he discovered a platform at the end of the walk that raised and lowered using a rail mounted on the wall. They climbed aboard and he sent the platform climbing.

They were about halfway up the wall when the sound of cannon fire came from the distance. Vyse looked up to see a volley of nearly a dozen flaming shells soaring their way. They hit the wall and exploded, knocking them off their feet but barely managing to chip off a layer of the gate's reinforcements. An air raid siren immediately began to sound.

"Heh. My men are right on time, but we're running a little late," Gilder said, with a smirk.

"Clara's there with them too, right?" Aika asked. "Are you sure she can handle the Armada?"

"Clara can hold her own, no problem. She may act like a girl, but she's as skilled a captain as they come." Gilder smirked. "How else do you think she's kept up with me for so long?"

Aika giggled. "Good point."

The platform continued to scale as the gate vibrated in the wake of the bombardment between the _Claudia_ and the _Primrose_. Vyse was impressed at the firepower of both ships; all things considered, they were doing a good amount of damage to the almighty Grand Fortress. Slowly, however, the vibrations turned into a more than noticeable trembling. There suddenly came a roar of an explosion so enormous that it knocked them off their feet again and threatened to deafen them with its intensity. Vyse peered over the edge of the lift and realized that the cannon they had run out of had exploded and was now engulfed in flames.

"Whoa! Gilder, how'd they do that?"

"Hahahaha! The _Claudia_ had nothing to do with that one," Gilder replied. "Heh. I, er, left them a little present before we went running through the shaft…"

"You sabotaged the ammunition!" Vyse laughed. "Of course!"

At last, the lift reached the end of its track. Gilder hopped off of it onto its landing and the other two followed. There was a door right there waiting for them and Vyse was quick to head inside. He found it to be a system of more hallways linked to maintenance purposes and found he had to pause to get his bearings. He didn't know which way to go.

"Vyse! I hear someone talking," Gilder said. "Through that door right over there."

Vyse approached the door, which was immediately to his left, and pressed his ear against it. He could hear the distinctive voice of Ramirez and the soft lilt of Fina's – though hers was so quiet that he could not determine her words.

"I already told you, I'm still following our orders – just on my own accord. My path is different than yours."

Fina said something pleadingly.

"Of course I haven't forgotten! Many of our views are still the same. I hold Prime in high enough regard, but there is much about this world that he does not know."

Fina sounded pained in her response.

Ramirez snorted. "Then they're fools to think so. They may know well the past of this world, but they have no idea what's in store for the future. They'll see soon enough."

He heard Fina asking a question. She sounded ready to cry.

"I serve Lord Galcian. That's all you need to know," Ramirez replied.

A door within the room suddenly burst open, and Vyse heard the loud clanking of armor. "Lord Ramirez! A massive explosion just rocked Battery 28, even though no enemy shells hit that area! We can't put the fire out!"

"Calm down, you fool," Ramirez snapped. "The Grand Fortress isn't going to collapse under the firepower of a couple ships. You two. Put the girl back in the meeting room and guard the door. The rest of you come with me. Do not desert your posts once I assign you to them, or the consequences will be dire and you'll be answering to me personally. Am I understood?"

"Yes, my lord!" a chorus of voices sounded in unison. Many minutes followed with the shuffling of feet and the clanking of armor, and then, it was quiet.

"Well…that was interesting…" Vyse murmured.

"What was going on?" Aika asked.

"I'm not really sure, but they're freaked out over Gilder's booby trap," Vyse replied. "In any case, it sounds like Fina is very nearby. Let's go."

Vyse held his cutlasses at the ready and then pushed the door open. He found the other side to be a long lobby leading off to some private offices and a large ornate door that was guarded by two soldiers. He knew that was where Fina had to be held.

The soldiers whirled around on him and leveled their shotguns at his head. In a split second, Gilder was in front of him with both pistols drawn.

"C'mon, bastards. Dance for me!"

The rogue captain let loose a flurry of skillful shots at the soldiers' feet, forcing them them to hop around wildly. He continued to play with them until, bored, he finally shot both of them in the stomach and sent them crumpling to the floor.

"Wish they were all that easy…" he murmured, blowing some smoke away from his guns.

Vyse didn't waste any time. He ran forward and flung open the doors to the meeting chamber, where he found Fina on the far end of the room staring out the window at the bursts of cannon fire coming from the _Claudia_ and the _Primrose_. When the doors opened, she gasped and whirled around, but immediately beamed when she saw who was there.

"Vyse!"

"Fina! I've finally found you!"

In a rush, Vyse ran forward, and was surprised to see Fina do the same. When he embraced her she accepted it readily this time and returned his hold in a much more comfortable manner, resting her forehead against his shoulder. He in turn held her close, resting his chin in her hair and feeling content for the first time in a very long time.

"It's funny…" Fina said, with a bashful giggle. "The first time the Valuans captured me, I never expected you to show up to save me. B-but this time…this time I just knew you'd show up. I knew you'd find me, Vyse."

"Haha…there's no way in the world that I'd go _anywhere_ without you, Fina." Vyse gave her waist a little squeeze. "I swear to you on my oath as a Blue Rogue that I will do everything I can to keep you safe."

"Ho!" Gilder cried. "Nice one, Vyse! I didn't know you were so smooth with the ladies. Getting jealous, Aika? I bet you wish Vyse would say those things to you."

"I don't need to hear him say those things," Aika replied, with quiet affection for the rogue. "I know that whenever I'm in trouble, Vyse will be there to save me – and he always has. He already did so once today."

"Heh. Good point." Gilder cleared his throat. "Hey, can we save the mushy stuff for later? We just broke out of prison, and we're still in Valua."

"That's true…" Reluctantly, Vyse parted from Fina and grimaced. "How are we supposed to get out of here? There's no way the _Claudia_ can make it close enough to the fortress without getting blown out of the sky…"

"C'mon, Vyse, think!" Gilder grinned and winked. "We're in the _Grand Fortress_. There's bound to be hordes of ships we can steal in the harbors down below."

"Uhm…actually…" Fina blushed and took a few steps forward. "They keep that room locked, but I managed to take Ramirez's key from him. I-I know it was bad of me, but if we hurry, we can take one of the really big ships, maybe, and…uhm…w-we could get out of here safely…." She blushed and ducked her head. "I'm sorry."

"What?!" Aika's eyes went wide. "You actually stole something?" She laughed and half tackled the Silvite in a hug. "Fina! I'm so proud of you!"

Vyse and Gilder burst out laughing.

"Y-you mean it's alright?" Fina asked, bewildered.

"Of course it's alright!" Aika exclaimed. "That's what air pirates do! You haven't broken any rules or anything."

"W-well…" Fina smiled bashfully as Aika took a few steps back. "I figured, after Ramirez left, that I would put his guards to sleep and then escape to come find you. I wasn't sure where they were keeping you, but I knew I could find out quickly and…and then with the key we could all leave on a nice ship."

"That's it. She's so officially an air pirate." Aika beamed.

Vyse chuckled. "Let's get going, then. We'll have to backtrack a little, but that's okay. C'mon!"

"Right behind ya, as always!" Aika replied.

They ran back through the hallway they had came from and took the maintenance halls back outside. From there they returned to the lift and sent it back down the railing, but were barely halfway down when the entire wall began to tremble violently and the loud, deep whining noise of metal on metal pierced the air. The gate was moving.

"They're turning it around…" Gilder observed. "Perfect! If we hurry, we can rush out of there and be free. It takes about twenty minutes to turn a hundred and eighty degrees, or so I've been told."

"Then twenty minutes is all we have. Let's go!" Vyse cried.

After what seemed an agonizingly long time, the platform finally reached the bottom of the wall. Vyse was eying the progress of the gate as it turned just feet away from him; it was slow, but not slow enough.

They leapt off the platform and Vyse took the lead, running down another walkway that ended in a couple of doors marked in progressing numbers. Fina checked the number on her key and told him to choose the door to his far right. They dashed to the far end of the walkway and Fina hurriedly tried to open the door, hands shaking a bit. After a moment, it opened and Vyse all but kicked it in in his rush to get inside.

They found themselves in another lobby, with seven hallways leading off in seven different directions. Above each hallway was marked the name of an Armada flagship in the order of the fleets: _Monoceros, Auriga, Draco, Lynx,_ and_ Chameleon._ The first door bore the name _Cygnus_ but it was partially scratched off and the seventh door was completely unmarked.

"Flagships!" Gilder got a wicked look across his face. "Whose should we steal, do you think?"

"I refuse to take Belleza's," Vyse said. "The _Lynx_ is out."

"And the _Chameleon_ is too weak…" Aika said.

"Hell, take Ramirez's. It'd be a good way to pay him back. And that sucker can punch through sky rifts," Gilder said.

"Down here!" a voice called from the unmarked hallway. "Quickly, before the guards come!"

"What?" Vyse blinked.

"No…a trap, it's gotta be a trap," Aika said.

"Hurry!" the voice insisted.

Fina gasped and dashed down the hallway. "W-where are you?"

"Fina!" Vyse ran after her without a second thought.

The hallway was long and brand new, and didn't show the wear of much travel. It wound around into the back of the docks and then spread out into a large munitions storage room with a lift on the far side of it. It currently wasn't on their level.

"It _was_ a trap! We're stuck here now!" Aika cried.

"No, just give me a minute. I'm trying to raise the lift up, but I believe it's stuck on a different floor…" the mysterious voice replied.

"Don't worry, we can trust him," Fina said, quietly.

A few minutes passed by with some clinking sounds and muttered words above them. Vyse began to get antsy, dancing around the doorway to be sure that there weren't any guards coming, but finally the rhythmic clattering sound became audible as the lift came up the shaft. It finally stopped on their level, a group of three heavily armed guards with an enormous war machine in the center of them.

"Surrender, air pirates!" the guard in the war machine commanded.

"Not a trick, huh?" Gilder asked.

"What are you doing?" the voice above demanded. "Did I not order you to stay within the prison compound?"

"Direct order from Her Majesty and Lord Galcian," the guard replied. "We are to capture the pirates or kill them, but they must not escape."

"I'm sorry, but I can not allow that."

"What?" The guard lifted his head just as a lithe form clothed mostly in black sprang down from the level above. With a rapier clutched tightly in his hands, he landed behind the guard and plunged the sword into the back of the his neck. He crumpled forward against the controls of the war machine and the other guards turned to regard him in shock. After a moment, they trained their weapons on the young man, but Gilder reacted quickly and shot all three down.

"Ugh…that felt so low…" the young man in black said.

"Enrique!" Fina cried, running over to him. "A-are you okay? Were you hurt?"

"I'm just fine." The young man, Enrique, gave her a smile, then slid down to the bottom of the platform. "We need to get these bodies off so we can take the lift up to the next floor."

"Fina, who's this?" Aika asked, blinking.

"I'm sorry. I should introduce myself." The young man smiled a kind smile similar to Fina's and approached Vyse, offering him a hand encased in a neat white glove. "You're Vyse, correct? I'm very excited to meet you. I am Enrique Valdez, Prince of Valua."

Vyse, Aika, and Gilder sputtered.

"Whaddaya mean, Prince of Valua?!" Aika blurted. "Why would you be helping us?!"

"I'll explain that once we're to safety," Enrique replied. "Please trust me. I helped you the last time you were here, and I promise to help you again."

"What do you mean?" Aika asked, blinking.

"In the coliseum, when you were overwhelmed by those guards, do you remember that shield that formed around you? The one that their attacks could not penetrate? I conjured that up to protect you when I saw Fina was trying to protect you as well." He smiled.

Vyse's eyes widened. "That was you?"

"It's a magic that only a select few nobles know. Now please, let's hurry. As I said, I can explain things later." Enrique stepped back on the lift and began to prepare it. Vyse hesitated, then stepped on, and the others followed.

When the lift got to the top, Vyse realized that it was the only way into or out of the next room. Enrique calmly stepped forward to the only door in the room and opened it, revealing a loading dock on the other side. They followed him down it and found themselves minutes later on the bridge of a very fancy ship. Enrique pushed the dock aside and closed the door behind them, flicking the engines on. Vyse blinked.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Enrique turned to smile at him. "As you've probably already guessed, we're on the deck of a ship. Meet the _Delphinus_. She's the newest vessel in the Armada, and she's my personal flagship."

"It looks…complex…" Aika blinked, eying the control panels. "This doesn't look like any other Valuan ship I've been on before…"

"That's because the _Delphinus_ is a new class of ship. She's an experimental model, but she's meant to be the most powerful ship in the skies." Enrique rubbed at the back of his neck. "She has the speed of one of our battle cruisers, but the power and armor of our toughest battleships. Her engine can punch through sky rifts and stone reefs alike and she can sail true in even the winds of South Ocean. To top it all off, she's equipped with the most powerful weapon in existence, created based on DeLoco's studies of the Red and Green Gigas. It's called the Moonstone Cannon, and it emits a blast of energy so powerful that it rivals the strength of the Gigas themselves! The danger and price involved in creating it is so immense, however, that this is the only ship in the world that has one."

"Heh. Pretty impressive!" Gilder nodded at all the gadgetry around him, then turned to face Enrique. "There's just one thing I can't figure out, Your Royalness. You've come a long way just to show off. What do you want with us?"

Enrique suddenly fell quiet, and bowed his head. After a long moment of silence, he clenched his fists, looked Vyse straight in the eye, and said, "I want you to take this vessel…and I want you to take me along with it!"

The four gasped in unison, utterly blown away.

"What?!" Aika blurted.

Enrique sighed and cast his gaze downward. "I…I don't believe in the current path this country is taking. It is wrong and shameful, amongst other things. I've tried time and again to convince my mother to change our ways, but she shrugs my words off as a weakness. She wants me to be a powerful and iron-fisted Emperor, but I refuse to be. I want Valua to be for the people, not for my own gain. I…I want to change the path this country is on by changing the world around it. And if I can't, then I want nothing to do with it. Things have gone from bad to worse, and as a Prince of Valua, all the innocent blood spilled by the actions of my mother and Galcian is on my hands! Please, Vyse…the things you've done so far have changed the world in so many positive ways. I want to be a part of it; it's the only way I can redeem myself. Please, I beg of you, take me with you. I'll even go as a hostage if I must." He bowed.

Vyse blinked. He watched the young man before him, this Enrique, who was apparently a good friend of Fina's and barely older than Vyse himself was. This young man, this prince, was bowing to _him_ and asking for _his_ permission to sail with him. He couldn't believe it. The world was upside-down!

"Heh. Of course you can sail with us!" Vyse replied, smirking. "There's only one problem. The Blue Rogues don't take hostages. If you want to sail with us, you have to do so as a Blue Rogue!"

Aika and Fina gasped happily.

"Hahaha!" Gilder was amused thoroughly. "Prince of Thieves! Haha…"

Enrique lifted his head, and Vyse found the Prince's expression to be gratifying. So much relief and happiness rested within Enrique's expressive eyes that he didn't have to think twice about his new companion's motives. With a smile, Vyse extended his hand.

"Heh. Sorry I didn't properly introduce myself earlier. I'm Vyse Dyne of the Blue Storm. My friends are Aika Nakal, Fina Selvarn, and Gilder VanWoert."

"I'm pleased to meet you, all of you!" Enrique replied, in complete earnest. "I promise that I'll do my best as a part of your crew!"

Gilder groaned. The girls giggled in response.

"Let's get going, then!" Enrique said, grinning a bit sheepishly. "Vyse, you take the helm. Gilder, if you could, man the weapons console? Fina, you might be familiar with the navigation, we based it off of what we found in Ramirez's ship, though he wouldn't let us take it apart. Aika, man the altimeter and the speed control settings. We may need some quick thinking here. I'm not overly skilled with these devices, but I at least know generally how they work."

"Here's hoping we don't blow the ship up!" Vyse said, with a laugh, wrapping his fingers easily around the _Delphinus'_ wheel. "_Delphinus_, full speed ahead!"

The fluidity and grace with which the elongated ship lifted off of its dock was so immense that it shocked Vyse twice over. As it glided effortlessly out of its harbor and into a canal port, he looked over to Enrique with wide eyes.

"I could balance six cups of hot tea on my head steering this thing! This is amazing!"

Enrique laughed.

Before long at all, they were into the main channel that lead out of Valua, and found it full of battleships waiting for them. The ship turned on a dime as Vyse cornered it to face the Fortress gate, but what he found facing them instead was a massive wall of green-tinted bricks with enormous cannons mounted on it. The entrance had been sealed shut.

"Aw, no way!" he cried. "That was a quick twenty minutes!"

"Heh, I wouldn't worry too much about it." Gilder leaned forward and tapped a finger against the windows, pointing at a spot near the middle of the wall that was still heavily on fire. "That spot there should still be weak from where I blew up that cannon."

"_They have the _Delphinus_! How did they ever get past security?_" came a staticy voice over the radio. Vyse jumped and looked around with wide eyes.

"Enrique?! Where are those voices coming from?"

"Oh!" Enrique tapped a small silver box next to Aika. "This is a radio. It sends out special waves to other ships so you can communicate between them, sort of like Arcwhales do. Every ship in the Valuan Armada is equipped with a radio set. We're merely intercepting the conversation between the other battleships."

"Should we talk back?" Aika asked.

Enrique shook his head. "Ignore them. I doubt they'll actually attack us, because the rumors of this ship are bigger than the Grand Fortress itself. In all actuality, the _Delphinus_ isn't complete. Her armor is seriously lacking, so flying through stone reefs or sky rifts would be suicide. She can still stand up for a long time as far as I know, but I'm not sure how long she'll last taking on this many ships at once."

"Fair enough." Vyse grinned. "What fires the Moonstone Cannon?"

Enrique laughed. "I should have figured you'd ask that. It's that lever over there to your left. See that hooked part on the _Delphinus_' bow? Use that as your sight as you would aiming any other gun or cannon. Level it at that hole in the wall and then pull the lever. The cannon will come out of the hull from the front of the ship. It takes a little while to charge up, but we'll be fine."

Vyse grinned. "Aika, tilt the ship forward a little. I'll tell you when to stop."

"Got it. Enrique, how do I work this?" Aika asked.

"Move that pair of switches forward to tilt her down and backwards to tilt her up. It's quite simple, really," he replied.

"Gotcha." Slowly, Aika placed her hands over the two switches and gradually pushed them forward. The _Delphinus_ responded instantly and gently tilted down until her hook was level with the damaged wall.

"Right there," Vyse said. "Perfect." Grinning like a mischievous little kid, he threw the lever for the Moonstone Cannon and waited.

A low grinding sound shook the floor of the bridge. Vyse could feel something moving, but he wasn't sure what. Slowly, something extended out past the bow, crackling with sparks and bolts of pinkish energy. A ball of the light began to form at the cannon's mouth as it gathered power in a low whine, and Vyse could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise in anticipation.

"_Mierda!_" came the frantic cry over the radio. "_Pull back! Retreat! They're going to vaporize us!_"

The ships instantly turned, but some couldn't get out of the way in time. The cannon did not wait, and, once at full power, let loose a blast of energy that took the form of a pink beam of light. The ship trembled violently beneath them, but did not buck as the _Little Jack_ did, and Vyse could only watch in an awed stupor as the moonstone blast vaporized three ships and continued going, straight through the wall. It cut a hole through it as though a portion of the stone had been neatly sliced away with a cookie cutter, and continued on into the darkened sky. The hole in the wall was now as big as the channel that the _Delphinus_ had been docked in and more than easy enough to fly through.

Vyse's jaw dropped.

Aika froze.

Gilder blinked.

Fina stared.

"I, uh…wow." Vyse murmured. "That's a Gigas' power, alright."

"Or two…" Fina whispered. "This is…a weapon of a caliber that not even my people have conceived…"

"Let's marvel about it later…" Gilder replied, though he hadn't quite recovered from his own shock. "We really need to get out of here before they send an Admiral or two after us."

Without a word, Vyse sent the ship forward. They flew unopposed and within minutes had slipped out of the hole they had punched in the wall and out into the open skies beyond. Nobody dared to pursue them, nobody dared fire, but Vyse set the ship to full speed anyway. He wanted nothing to do with Valua anymore. He was tired of it.

And yet, ironically, he was sailing a Valuan ship with a Valuan Prince! He had to chuckle at himself.

"Haha, we did it!" he whooped. "We escaped the Grand Fortress _twice_!"

"You sure know how to break in a new ship, kiddo!" Laughing, Gilder elbowed him playfully. Aika did so as well, ruffling his hair.

Behind the celebrating trio, Enrique stood, looking sadly out the window at the smoldering Grand Fortress. Mixed emotions flickered across his pale face, but the most prominent one of all was that of determination.

"Well Valua, this looks like goodbye…for now…"


	21. Loose Ends

"So…what's this?" Vyse asked, staring at the steely box that was taller than he was. He had never seen anything of its sort in a ship's galley, let alone anywhere for that matter. It hummed softly with electricity.

"It's a brand-new invention," Enrique replied, grinning. "They call it an icebox. It uses purple moonstones to keep food cool, and is powered by the ship's electricity. The left side is cooler than the right and can actually freeze things."

Vyse blinked and continued to stare. "…I don't get it."

"Open it and look inside," Enrique said.

Slowly, Vyse turned the handles of the two doors on the box and swung them open, and was immediately hit with a blast of cold air. He peeked inside to find bottles of wine and other fancy Valuan finger foods on the right side, and strange desserts he had never seen before on the left.

"What? Where's the loqua?"

"I don't drink loqua. It's too strong for me," Enrique replied. "I'm sorry, I didn't consider what you might like when I prepared the ship for you. If there's somewhere we can stop for supplies, I'll buy you anything you need."

"Aw…I don't want to be a mooch…" Vyse shook his head.

The prince only grinned. "Vyse, you lost all your treasure when your ship sank. Besides, what else am I supposed to do with all that gold in my name? You said I had to sail as a Blue Rogue, right? Blue Rogues help others, always. So I'm helping you."

Vyse only laughed. "You've got our dogma down, Enrique!"

"Our beliefs are very much the same," Enrique said with a smile. "Well, I guess that concludes the tour of the ship. I believe Gilder said he wanted to talk to you when you were done searching everything."

"Oh, that's right." Vyse nodded. "What about you?"

"I, er…I think I need some fresh air…" he replied, and for the first time Vyse noticed that the prince was looking a little pale. "I'll be out on deck…"

"Haha…airsickness…" Vyse grinned sheepishly. "You do that."

Vyse helped Enrique out onto the deck, then went back up to the bridge where he had left Gilder. They had been sailing for three days now, and Vyse was utterly shocked at how far they had gotten. Even the _Claudia_ hadn't been capable of making the time they did. It was an understatement to call the _Delphinus_ a powerful ship; it was nothing short of a technological revolution, a modern miracle. It had taken Vyse all three of those days to explore every nook and cranny of the enormous vessel, and Aika and Fina were still gone looking it over. Fina had cooked them meals for all three of those days, content to find that the kitchen in the galley was very distantly similar to the kitchens she had at home. Aika in the meantime was more interested in the sheer immensity of the ship's guns.

Back up on the bridge, Vyse found Gilder at the helm, gazing out the window. Up until a few hours ago, Clara had been latched on to his arm and had refused to let go, but Aika had convinced her to go explore the lower decks and for the moment the rogue captain was free. When Vyse entered, he quickly whirled around, but immediately relaxed when he realized who it was.

"Praise the Moons. I thought you were Clara for a second," he said with a grin.

"Heh. Thankfully, no." Vyse grinned and stepped forward. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, first of all…" Gilder reached behind the main console and picked up a rough and rowdy looking kid by the nape of the clothes. "I caught this little bilge rat scampering around the ship. I was wondering if you wanted to deal with him."

Vyse's eyes went wide. "Marco! What are you doing here?"

"Did he just call me a bad name?" Marco demanded, swinging idly in Gilder's grasp. "I don't understand Meridian."

Vyse chuckled and grinned. "Not…by sailor standards, no. But _what_ are you doing here?"

"Heh." Marco grinned slyly and folded his arms across his chest. "I'd heard that the Prince's ship had been finished and that he was gonna leave Valua soon. So I snuck on board. The Grand Fortress may be tough, but they don't expect little kids to go sneaking through there. Anyways…I'd heard the Prince was really nice and all…he's snuck down to Lower City before to help people…so I figured he wouldn't kill me for trying to escape Valua." The boy immediately perked up. "But I never expected you to take the ship! Now I don't have to go through the trouble of finding you!"

Vyse got a bit of a warm feeling inside his chest. He was reminded of Jimmy back at home, though Marco was far rougher around the edges to say the least. He smiled. "Well, so you found me. Now what do you plan on doing?"

Marco looked at him pointedly. "I heard the Prince say you were the captain of the ship because he can't sail. He said it when you were all talking here after you left Valua. I heard him! So you're gonna hire me onto your crew whether you like it or not, and I'm gonna be a sailor." And that, apparently, was that.

Vyse laughed. "You're pretty pushy there, kid. All right, I'll make you my first crewmember! And as Captain I order you to find Fina so she can get you some nice, warm clothes that fit. After that, ask her or Aika what you can do to help us out. Alright?"

Marco flashed him an enormous grin and a thumbs-up. "Aye aye!" he shouted. Vyse nodded at Gilder, who set the boy down, and Marco scampered off excitedly.

"Didn't even think about that," Gilder said with a smirk as he watched Marco leave. "I remember you telling me about that kid, but I never thought he would be the same one. Ah well. It's good to see that we were able to help him out too…though unintentionally. Heh!" He then turned to look at Vyse. "Anyways…I wanted to tell you that…I'm leaving."

Vyse gasped. "What? No, Gilder, you…you can't! We're all gonna miss you…"

Gilder smiled. "Kid, I wish I didn't have to leave, but I've got to get back to my men. They're no doubt getting restless without me, and I'm not about to leave the _Claudia_. Besides…this might be my only chance to escape from Clara."

Vyse grinned guiltily. "Well, I know you said you weren't ready to settle down."

"'Sides, I've got another woman on my mind." Gilder winked, then sighed. "You've got to understand a captain's duty to his crew…they're like a family, Vyse. And now that Enrique has made you _his_ captain, there are some things you've got to live up to. I don't doubt that your crew will be happy with you though. People love you. For some reason, everybody follows you…myself included. That's because, no matter what, you never give up! Everyone knows they'll be protected with you. And with that attitude, in this ship…" He grinned and gave the wheel a spin. "…You're gonna sail around the world. You don't need me, kid. You're plenty successful on your own."

Gilder strode forward then, and leaned against the table in the center of the bridge, which currently had a few maps and navigational equipment rolled out on it. "Before I go, though, I have three pieces of advice -- from one Captain to another. First of all…you'll need a crew. With a ship this size, you'll need more than just Marco to keep it running and in top shape. You'll need some engineers, a good cook, some gunners, watchmen…think of all the crewmembers your father had. Valuan ships are far more complex than your normal sailing vessel, so you'll need some experienced people with you, but I'm sure there are plenty of folks out in the world who are willing to join the fight against Valua.

"Second…you're going to need a base. You need a place where you can repair your ship and plot your moves, and your crewmen will need warm meals and warm beds every once in a while. I'm based in Cape Claudia…and you said your father was based on Pirate Isle, right? Hmm…Meridia would therefore be too conspicuous for you…" He paused, rubbing his chin in thought, then grinned in sudden enlightenment and snapped his fingers. "I've got it! That island we found you on…Crescent Isle…that will be the perfect place for you to set up a headquarters. Nobody ever goes out there. Yeah…head out to that island, and I'll leave a surprise for ya.

"Third, and most important…never give up. You've proven that anything is possible, Vyse, and you've even bested me in your accomplishments. You're gonna be a legend just like Daccat if you stick to this, kid…I can just feel it. If you follow these three words of advice, you can do anything."

Vyse smiled, feeling absolutely overwhelmed. "Thanks, Gilder. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for us. If there's ever a way I can repay you…just let me know."

"You don't need to repay me. Know why?" Gilder grinned. "My entire life, I've been searching for fun and adventure. But the time I spent with you…is the most fun I've ever had in my life!" He laughed. "Keep it up, kid!"

Suddenly, they heard a woman's voice calling Gilder's name. It was distinctly Clara's. Gilder's eyes widened and, turning around on his heel, he dashed for the door. With a call of "good luck!" he disappeared down the hall and then was gone. Vyse watched sadly as the _Claudia_ pulled away a few minutes later. The _Primrose_ was hot on her tail.

* * *

The next two and a half months were full of traveling. Vyse took the _Delphinus_ south to Sailor's Island to pick up supplies and hire a few more crewmembers, then went northeast to Nasr to head back to Crescent Isle. During that whole time, Aika and Fina got themselves acquainted with the controls on the bridge, while Enrique spent most of his time out on deck, horribly airsick. Marco, in a new pair of sailor-style clothes Fina had tailored for him, ran around the ship keeping everything clean and in great shape. What bothered Vyse, however, was that they hadn't encountered a single Valuan ship since their escape. He had expected to be hunted, but even as they flew over Nasrad, there was nobody to be seen. Either they were too afraid to send anyone out after the _Delphinus_, or Valua had some horrible plans in store for him. Either way, he hadn't fired a single shot from the _Delphinus_' cannons since leaving Valuan airspace.

Among his new crewmembers were a few sailors of somewhat noteworthy stature. First there was Lawrence Navahl, a mercenary for hire that Enrique had to dig out ten thousand gold for. Regardless, Lawrence had proven his competence, working as both a skilled helmsman and an excellent raider. Second was Polly, who Aika had convinced to become their cook. Polly joined on the condition that they search for her husband, leaving her daughter Anne to care for the tavern until she got back. Third was Hans, who had since returned from Ixa'Taka with Centime, and who had a curious Tika Tika sailing with him to explore the "Eastern World". The hunter was working hard to learn Meridian, and though his speech was broken and thickly accented, he seemed to be picking it up quickly. As they doubled back through Nasrad, they landed and rescued a few survivors, including a burly Nasrean soldier by the name of Khazim al-Shiihad and his entire squadron to man their guns as well as a once powerful but now ruined merchant named Osman Jakiir who promised she would make them money and manage their cargo.

When they landed at last on Crescent Isle, they were met with a surprise. Waiting for them were two old men, a grizzled, short and fat one, and a lanky, tall and skinny one with a long beard. The small group stepped off their lifeboats and onto the island, surprised to see them there.

"Island-hoppers?" Aika murmured.

"Eehh-heh-heh-heh-heh!" the tall old man laughed. "Well howdy, howdy! Good to see y'all here. We been waitin' fer ya ever since Gilder told us about y'all!"

"Er…_you're_ the 'surprise' Gilder left for us?" Vyse asked, cocking an eyebrow. Fina immediately bowed to them both.

"Yep! Eheh!" The tall old man rubbed at his bald head and grinned – showing that he had quite a few teeth missing. "Brabham Loomis at yer service! You won't find a better engineer un'ner the six moons!"

"Actually…" Hans began, but Lawrence silenced him with a look.

"Ba-baaaaamm!" The shorter old man cried. "And I'm his buddy, Jessup Izmael, the greatest carpenter ever! Ya want something built? I'll build it! Ya don't want something built? I'll build it anyway!"

"We're here at the request of Cap'n Gilder to join yer crew!" Brabham continued. "We'll also be buildin' ye a base, and he paid for it! What do ya say to that?"

"He _paid_ for it?" Vyse's eyes went wide again. "How…much did that cost?"

"A mere seventy thousand gold," Izmael replied, beaming. Everybody sort of choked. "You can see behind me that I've already started. I've got most the place cleared out and a few bases down and see-mented in."

"And I been workin', too!" Brabham added, grinning again. "Gilder said yer hull and engine needed some work, so while ye were gone, I took the thirty thousand gold 'e gave me and made some upgrades for 'em both! I can install 'em for you tomorrow and then you can fly through both stone reefs and sky rifts without a hitch! Hoohoohoo!"

"Gilder spent a hundred thousand gold on us?!" Vyse cried.

"I'nni't great?" Brabham asked, beaming. "Good to have a friend like that, aye?"

"Anyways, we was cookin' dinner when you showed up in the distance." Izmael grinned. "S'all ready for you. So you just eat up and we'll pitch some tents for you to sleep in. Alrighty?"

"Er…thanks!" Aika replied, blinking.

The crew scattered to go claim their individual tents and eating spots as Vyse, Aika, and Fina, who was tending to the queasy Enrique, settled down by the beach. The prince looked positively miserable, though she sent pulses of soothing silver light into his body as she gently rubbed his back. He flopped down on the sand with a long groan and just sort of lay there.

"Haha…somebody's a little seasick." Aika grinned guiltily. "Are you gonna be alright, Enrique?"

"I'll be…erb…fine…" The Prince replied. "I just never realized that sailing could be so…so rough…"

"It takes a while to get used to it. Especially if you're usually a landlubber." Vyse mirrored Aika's grin. "Just give it some time."

"I just hope he can get up in the morning without the help of any servants," Aika teased, watching Enrique with a sidelong glance. "He's lived such a sheltered life…"

"Hey!" Enrique cried, though he made no move to turn or sit up. "I don't need servants for anything!"

The three laughed.

"You know…something's been bothering me, speaking of Valua…" Vyse stared down into the campfire Izmael had started for them. "We haven't seen a single Armada vessel since we escaped a two moons ago. Why haven't they sent Ramirez back out to catch us?"

"That's because the _Delphinus_ uses moonstone frequencies to bounce back the radar waves we use to track other ships," Enrique replied. "She's invisible to the systems of our most advanced vessels, so searching for her is futile. They simply can't find us."

"Wow…" Vyse just blinked. Such a thing was beyond his comprehension.

"Uhm…speaking of Ramirez…" Aika hesitantly looked up, over to Fina. "Fina…I hope I'm not imposing or anything, but….there's something you haven't told us about Ramirez, isn't there?"

Fina gasped and sat up straight, staring at Aika with wide, fearful eyes. Vyse felt the need to go comfort her, especially as she bowed her head miserably, but something held him back.

"Oh!…I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so personal." Aika frowned guiltily. "Don't worry. If it's too hard to talk about…you don't have to tell us."

Fina slowly shook her head and closed her eyes, and though it was evident she was crying, she looked back up at everyone. Enrique slowly sat up and gave her a slow nod, and she wiped at her eyes with the back of her head. "No…n-no…I've kept this from you for too long…and…and I should have told you earlier. I'm sorry."

Vyse felt his worry building.

Again, Fina bowed her head. "If you couldn't tell already, Ramirez is…is a Silvite. His real name is Ramir and he was…is…my older brother."

Vyse and Aika gasped in unison. They had recognized his Silvite heritage, but that he was related to Fina was something they had never thought of. There was simply no way that cold, heartless killer was related to meek and gentle Fina!

Fina continued in an unsteady voice. "Several years ago, my mother was sent down here to gather the moon crystals…and she never returned. After two years, she was pronounced dead, so Ramir volunteered to collect them in her place. Then…then Ramir also vanished. He cut his communications to us and we weren't sure if he was still alive or not. I was afraid for the worst. Another five years passed, and the Shrine Elders called upon me to search for the crystals…b-because I'm the last of our family." Fina bowed her head and looked away. "As it turns out, Ramir was picked up by an Armada vessel when he first came here. He decided he would use the Armada to get the crystals, then steal them and leave – that way he wouldn't have to cause any unnecessary bloodshed. But the Admiral he worked for lied to him about many things and…and the biggest insult of all to my people is being lied to. Ramir turned instead to Lord Galcian and has been working for him ever since. Even then…." She had to pause for a long time to regain her composure. "I'm not sure what has corrupted him so…what made him change so abruptly…"

Everyone fell silent. They didn't know what to say. Fina was simply crying now, curled up into a little ball and sobbing into her hands, and finally Aika scooted over to her and wrapped her arms around her friend in a tight hug.

"It'll be okay, Fina. Promise," she said, in an uncharacteristically soft voice. Fina wailed and began to sob into her shoulder.

Vyse and Enrique exchanged helpless glances. Neither was very good with girls, and crying girls made Vyse really uneasy. But he also felt for Fina…he could hear the pain and hopelessness in her voice, and he realized that she had been through a whole lot recently. But what could he do? He didn't know what made Fina really, truly happy. She had been thrown into his world without any knowledge of it, except for that she was alone. If he could, Vyse would have taken her home right then, and finished the quest on his own, just so she wouldn't have to worry anymore.

Vyse found no rest that night. Fina's story upset him as well, and for the entire evening he lay out atop the levee surrounding the island lake, staring up at the stars and the blazing red moon. Brabham was all over the place in the meantime, working on the _Delphinus_, whose sheer length alone was a quarter that of the island itself. He wondered how anyone slept with the racket, but the whole crew must have been more tired than he had anticipated.

When morning rolled around, Vyse realized that he had eventually fallen asleep. He woke up to find Aika and Fina cooking breakfast by their camping spot on the shore, and that Izmael and most of the crew was working on the buildings and clearing out the grove. The _Delphinus_ shone brightly with its new armor plating, and he realized just how far Brabham had gotten over the night, considering he was a one-man operation. When Vyse sat up, he saw that Enrique was there driving a wooden flagpole into the ground not too far behind him.

"Ah! _Buenos dias_!" the prince greeted with a smile. "I hope I didn't wake you up."

"Heh. Nothing can wake me up," Vyse replied, rubbing at the back of his head groggily. He then looked up at the flagpole and blinked. "What's that?"

"Aika and Fina got together last night and decided that the ship needed a new flag," Enrique said. "We can't be air pirates and fly the flag of Valua at the same time. So they thought on things for a while and eventually they came up with something nice. I said I'd hang it up for them. See?" Enrique reached into his vest and pulled out a large roll of blue fabric – it was the same kind and color that Fina used to patch his tunic with. Sewn into it in white thread was a diving delphin with wings. "In ancient Valuan, the word 'Delphinus' translates into 'lord of the sky'…or so Fina says. My people don't know it, but the name Delphinus was actually given to the yellow Gigas as well. Later on, 'delphin', or 'sky king', was taken out of the word and used to name the actual animal. So Fina chose the animal to represent our ship."

"Interesting." Vyse grinned. "Delphi are a sailor's best friend…they warn you of incoming storms, lead you to the best fishing spots, and have been known to save you if you get shipwrecked. It's the perfect mascot for a Blue Rogue!" He laughed. "It may not instill fear into anybody, but it shows our good intentions."

Enrique laughed and grinned as he hooked the flag up to the pole and began to raise it. "Well, Aika thought the whole skull thing had been overdone, and Fina was frightened by them, so that was sort of out. Not your traditional pirates, those two."

"You should talk," Vyse replied, standing and elbowing him. "I'm gonna give you the nickname of the Prince of Thieves."

Enrique blushed. "Is that really appropriate?"

"Haha…I don't see why not," Vyse said.

* * *

It felt good to have his own flag flying in the warm breeze. As Brabham continued to make adjustments to the _Delphinus_, the others spent the next few days helping work on the base. By the end of the week, their ship was finished and the grove was cleared out enough to make room for ample housing.

That night, Fina approached Vyse, Aika and Enrique, and sat down quietly.

"Uhm…I know you all want to work on the base more, but…I…I really think we should head out in search of the next crystal now that the _Delphinus_ is ready." She bowed her head. "I-I hope I don't seem too pushy."

"Not at all!" Vyse replied, with a grin. "I've been getting itchy to travel anyways. What's next on the list, do you think?"

"Well…" Fina smiled, looking relieved. "Far, far to the east, in the gentle light of the blue moon, there lies the land of Yafutoma. The blue crystal will be hidden there."

"Wait a minute!" Aika shook her head quickly. "That's not possible! The blue moon lies on the very edge of the world! Nobody can get there, so there can't possibly be a _country_ there!"

"Oh, Aika." Fina giggled. "It's like I told Vyse. There _is_ no end of the world. Yafutoma is very real."

Aika's dark eyes went wide. "There's no…end?"

"Actually, there's proof of the Yafutoman empire's existence, if Fina's talking about what I think she is," Enrique replied. "It's information privy to only my mother, Galcian and I, but it came from a reliable source. During the beginning of our occupation of Ixa'Taka, many soldiers had reported seeing ships on the other side of the Great Barrier Reef. They described these ships as being very light and flimsy looking, but they were incredibly fast and definitely not anything of Ixa'Takan design. When these reports reached Ramirez, he described to us a people who wore scales for armor and who ate their food with sticks. It all seemed very far-fetched at the time."

"Yes! That is part of Yafutoman culture!" Fina replied, beaming. "Your people are very observant, Enrique. I'm glad Ramir was able to explain some things to you."

"Whoa, whoa, wait." Aika looked positively aghast. "They have scales and they eat people with sticks?! There is no _way_ I'm going to a place like that! We encounter enough monsters as it is!"

Vyse heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. "They only appear when you're standing in a city of gold and your hair catches on fire, Aika."

She slugged him hard in the shoulder.

"Well, okay…so we're going to Yafutoma," Vyse said, rubbing at his upper arm. He knew he'd have a bruise in the morning. "But how long will it take? How do we get there?"

"That's the problem…" Fina frowned. "There are two barriers to the world you know, which is why there is the conception that the world is flat and that there's an end to it. The Great Barrier Reef to the west prevents anyone from going past Ixa'Taka and North Ocean, and the Dark Rift to the east prevents anyone from going beyond Nasr. With your current technology, I'm not sure you can make it."

"I've heard about the Dark Rift…" Enrique said, thoughtfully. Suddenly he looked up. "Twenty years ago, during the Valua-Nasr war, we discovered some uncharted land at the tip of the Nasrean continent. We claimed it in the name of Valua and named it Cape Victory. A large city was built there, called Esparanza – it means 'hope' in Valuan. The sailors there challenged the Dark Rift in Valua's name in the hope of reaching the fabled lands to the east, but it's unknown if anybody ever made it or not. However, they may have some ideas as to how we can cross the Rift safely."

"Even my people know precious little of the Dark Rift. It is a mystery that has baffled Silvite scholars for years," Fina said. "Any information we can find will be helpful. As for the Rift itself…crossing it might take even longer than it took us to cross South Ocean. I'm not sure. We should probably get more supplies and more crew members to be safe."

"Where else can we look, though?" Vyse asked.

"Well, we're pretty big-time now, right?" Aika asked in turn. "If we can't find anyone to help us in Esparanza, let's post something and see who turns up."


	22. Hopeless Esparanza

"This is…the great city of Esparanza? The jewel of the Empire…?"

Aika stood in utter disbelief. What Enrique had described to them sounded like a majestic castle town, a desert oasis that spanned the very tip of the Nasrean coast. It was supposed to be a glimmering, bustling city full of energetic people from all around the world, a conglomeration of different nationalities and their ships all joined in a neutral and industrial city to work towards a common goal. But what they stood before, upon what was almost a dock, was depressing beyond all imagination.

This far out into the Nasrean frontier, the Red Moon's rays had turned the sky a dingy orange, as if it were caught in a perpetual sunset. The clouds blended in with it, creating the illusion of an endless void above them, and a dark sea below. Far off in the distance, covering the eastern horizon for as far as any of their watchmen could see, there was a gruesome, ominous mass of violently churning black clouds, a raging storm that stood like an enormous wall dominating the world and blocking their passage to the fabled eastern lands. Even from a distance, they could hear it howling and roaring, just _daring_ them to come near. Vyse had no doubt that it could easily swallow the _Delphinus_ and rip the battleship to shreds.

But what was most depressing was the town in itself. What had once been the fortress city that had fascinated Enrique so was now a decaying skeleton of a town that was one giant ghetto more than anything else. Its fortified walls and gun-crowned guard towers, which stood like sentinels from the cliffside, were all rusted and beat up, as if they hadn't been touched for twenty years. Much of the metal was beginning to waste away and crumble, leaving vulnerable gaps everywhere. The gigantic lighthouse, once the pinnacle of the city, now stood listing at a dangerous angle and threatened to topple off the coastline completely, and all around the shore there lay ruined and wrecked ships, beached and dead. At their current angle, Vyse couldn't see any of the houses atop the cliff, but he had a bad feeling that they were in no better shape. The docks they had pulled their lifeboat up to were in similar disrepair, and there were no dockhands about waiting to aid them. There wasn't anybody around period, except for a few stray animals.

"Urb…!" Enrique leaned over the side of the docks again and looked ready to explode. Fina crouched beside him and began to rub his back again.

"Uhm…I-I think perhaps you two should go explore the city…" she said. "It doesn't look like we should move him until the airsickness subsides…"

Aika grinned. "I wonder if our sheltered prince is ever going to get over that. Do you wanna go back to the ship, Enrique?"

"Nooo," Enrique wailed. "No more sailing…at least…urp…not for now."

Vyse elbowed Aika. "Hey, enough teasing. He's been very brave to come this far. Perhaps we can find him some medicine up in town."

"In _this_ place…?" Aika eyed the crumbling walls of the city dubiously. "I bet they don't even have clean water here!"

Vyse shrugged, then turned to face Fina. She regarded him with her large, innocent eyes and smiled. "Don't worry. We'll be fine here. I'll take care of Enrique."

"He couldn't be left in better hands." Vyse grinned at Fina, feeling a touch of fondness, then turned and began to jog up the rickety ramp that led into the actual city. "C'mon, Aika. Let's go."

"Right behind ya!" she called.

Upon passing through the city gates, Vyse was none too surprised to see that he had guessed right. The houses and buildings of the city were falling apart; many had been patched up with random pieces of junk, from boat parts to tar paper and garbage. It was in worse condition than Madera's Lower City, though slightly cleaner. Despite the rubble littering the side of the streets everywhere, at least there was no litter and disease about, and all things considered the town was fairly tidy.

Everyone who wandered the street had the look of a sailor, but they all appeared fairly old and were dirty and grizzled. It seemed as though nobody bothered to take care of himself. Vyse and Aika received many cold stares from the locals, but they were otherwise ignored.

"Do you get the feeling we don't belong here?" Aika murmured.

"Mm." Vyse bit his lower lip. "I guess getting Enrique some airsickness medicine is out. Well…we can't have come all this way for nothing. Let's find an inn and—"

"Nuh-uh!" Aika shook her head quickly, her braids bobbing about. "I refuse to stay in this dump. I'm not gonna sleep in a lice-filled bed when we have nice cozy ones on board the _Delphinus_."

"Er…heh." Vyse rubbed at the back of his neck. "Guess you've got a point. I doubt the rest of the crew would appreciate that either." He paused to look around the mostly empty streets lined by dark, dirty, and dilapidated houses. "How about a tavern, then? You'll always find knowledgeable sailors in a tavern. _Some_body has to know something about that Dark Rift."

"I'm glad you have faith in these people," Aika replied. "I sure don't."

The two wandered the town some more, finding that it was more or less a labyrinth of wide streets and varied housing districts. Occasionally they noticed ex-Valuan soldiers working on some heavily out-of-date equipment, cursing and muttering to themselves as they tried to make it work. If not for their utterances, Vyse realized, the town would be almost dead quiet. There was nothing else to fill the air aside from the cry of gulls and the faint roar of the Dark Rift off in the distance.

Unfortunately, all of the buildings were unmarked and they all generally looked the same. Vyse and Aika found it next to impossible to distinguish the tavern from anything else. Finally, Aika gave up and decided to ask the nearest person for directions, another ex-Valuan soldier who was working on a gas-powered engine of some sort.

"_Monde…_" she began, saying 'excuse me' Valuan.

"Actually, it's Friday," he replied in Meridian. "Whaddaya want?"

Aika frowned and folded her arms across her chest. "Hey, I could do without the attitude. I was just gonna ask you where the tavern was."

"Just look for the drunkards," he replied, without looking up.

"_Everyone_ in this dump looks like a drunkard!" she replied, exasperatedly. "Be serious."

"I _am_." He finally lifted his head then, and affixed a cold and lifeless stare on Aika. "The whole damn _town_ is serious. There's nothing to laugh about here. Or do you think having your own country abandoning you is funny? I don't."

"We're air pirates. We don't _have_ a country," Aika replied, now placing her hands on her hip. "Look, we just need to know—"

"Up there, past the shipwreck and to the left," the soldier bluntly replied. "Now will you get out of my hair?"

Aika sighed and rolled her dark eyes. "Whatever."

The two continued on, Vyse inwardly chuckling at Aika's irritability. She wasn't known for her patience, and as she griped to him while they walked, he humored his best friend carefully.

Atop the hill that the soldier had indicated, Vyse was shocked to see a ship had crashed right in the middle of town there. A Nasrean merchant had since made it his home, but traces of an apparent fire were still evident around the area. He began to wonder what had caused such a disaster, and why nobody had really cleaned it up. How long had that boat been sitting there?

At least the directions proved to be correct, and the two friends found themselves facing a long building protruding from the cliffside. Vyse pushed open the doors and knocked one of them off its hinges. As it leaned awkwardly to the side, everyone in the bar turned to stare at him.

For once in his life, Vyse was really, really scared. Even his previous near escapes from the Gigas didn't make his flesh crawl like this did. The bar was packed full, but it was dead quiet. Each sailor there was large, dirty, and lifeless – they looked like they were undead. Thirty-six pairs of cold, empty and angry eyes were affixed upon him, belonging to men and women who tightly grasped bottles of hard alcohol. They looked ready to mug him for every last item of worth he had on.

Aika took a few steps back until she was behind him, and there she hovered uneasily.

"What in the hell is this?" a hairy blonde man demanded from where he perched atop a barstool. "There are still people stupid enough in the world to visit Esparanza?"

"They're just kids!" a woman crowed. "I betcha they got lost. Betcha anything!"

Vyse hated being called a kid. He let Gilder get away with it because Gilder used it as a sort of fond nickname, but Vyse was almost eighteen and he wasn't about to be put down after all the work he had done fighting the Valuan Empire. His fears gave way to anger and he cleared his throat. "I need some information," he said, boldly.

"I betcha do!" another sailor replied. "But you came to the wrong place. Go to Sailor's Island if you need intellectual crap."

Everyone began to laugh.

"Stow it!" came a voice from the back. Vyse looked over there to see a lanky man in his mid-thirties sitting with his feet up on a table. He clutched a huge bottle of rum in one hand and was chugging it like it was nothing. "If it'll getcha out of here faster, ask me what you need and I'll tell ya what I know. Name's Don. Now talk."

Vyse and Aika exchanged glances. Slowly, Vyse walked over to the table where Don sat and leaned carefully against it.

"We need some help," he said. "We have to cross the Dark Rift and we'd like some information on how to do so."

There was a creaking and scuttling as everyone turned in their chairs to face him again. An eerie silence fell over those gathered, and they stared at Vyse as if he were absolutely nuts. Don choked on his rum in the middle of a swig and ended up spitting it out in his shock.

"What?!" he demanded. "Are you daft? The Dark Rift is the reason we're all here in the first place!"

"Huh…?" Aika blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You must know nothin'. You ain't from Valua, are you?" Don eyed her harshly, took another swig, and leaned forward. "Blank stares from you both. Alright then, if I must, I'll explain. You know what Esparanza means?"

"Enrique said it means 'hope,'" Aika replied.

"Enrique? Ain't he Prince of Valua?" came a voice from the back.

"Shuddap. There's more than one guy named Enrique in the world," someone responded.

"Yeah. Right. Anyways." Don leaned back again. "Twenty years ago, Valua found this place during the war. It was the very tip of the known world, the edge of civilization as we know it. But there were rumors from the sailors in a couple of the Armada's fleets to the south…they said they saw people from a whole other country to the east. Of course, every sailor worth his salt came here, to the edge of the world, in pursuit of this country. Think of all the fame and fortune that would await the guy who finally made it there! The city began to grow rapidly, and they named it Esparanza in honor of all the hopes of the people here."

Don paused for another swig of his booze, then continued with a snort. "Boy, we were all young and stupid back then, I tell ya. The most skilled and experienced sailors from all around the world came to tackle the Dark Rift…but one by one it claimed them all. That thing's evil…it either sucks ships in, or blows them away, and they're rarely ever seen again. Nobody was able to cross it. Time and again it claimed more and more lives. It took _my_ crew and left me here, ruined. When Valua realized that it was impossible to cross the rift, they pulled all of their investments in the city out and abandoned us. Half the town fled right then and there, afraid that things would go to pot without Valua's endless pocketbook backing us up. Others stayed, yet clinging to our 'hope'. And this is what we get. We're all stuck here in this damned place, waiting to die. Moral of the story, kid, is that the Dark Rift is the end of the world and there _is_ no crossing it. So go home and make sure your mommy tell you less fantastic bedtime stories."

Vyse and Aika stood there staring. They could not believe what they had just heard. Vyse wanted to argue, to say that the world was round, but how? He had no proof, and he didn't quite believe it himself. How could he explain that a beautiful girl from a hidden advanced civilization being hunted by the Valuan Empire told him this, anyway? He doubted that would go over well.

Suddenly the doors burst open, knocking both to the ground with a noisy clatter. Fina stood there with wide eyes and immediately began to bow to the bartender. "Oh no! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"You don't look all that strong," the bartender replied, eying the tiny Silvite. She smirked. "They were fallin' apart anyways. It was just an accident."

Fina continued to apologize anyway. She still couldn't get out of her cultural habits.

"Fina! It's alright." Vyse strode over to her and squeezed one of her slender shoulders reassuringly. "What's wrong? Why are you in such a rush?"

"Vyse! I-in the distance!" She looked up at him with wide eyes. "It's the Armada! Enrique said it's the entire second fleet!"

Vyse sputtered. "What?! How'd they find us all the way out here? I thought it wasn't possible for them to track the _Delphinus_!"

"I-I don't know. I'm sorry. Maybe Enrique can explain. He's out on the docks," she replied.

Startled murmurs began to ripple through the crowd. Valua hadn't come near Esparanza since it left twenty years ago.

"Let's go, then," Vyse said. "If they're looking for a fight, we should lead them away from the town. I'm not so sure about taking on an entire fleet of battleships, but at least we have technology on our side."

"What?" one of the sailors asked. "You're gonna go take on the _Armada_?"

"One way or another," Aika replied.

The room exploded into laughter again. Vyse stood there until it died down.

"Before I go, I just want to say that I've never seen a more pathetic group of people in my life," he spat. "Just because you failed at something once, you think that's an excuse to just throw your life away and get yourselves wasted? You're weak! You make me sick. I'll see you on the other side of the Dark Rift, ladies and gentlemen." And with that he stormed out, the girls scurrying behind him.

Vyse found Enrique out on the docks, watching the pack of predatory black shapes anchored in the distance. The prince looked as calm and composed as ever, and leaned against a railing as he observed a lifeboat slowly puttering towards them.

"That really is the entire fleet…" Vyse said, gawking.

"Pretty intimidating, hm?" Enrique chuckled. "I guess my mother decided she didn't want to mess around with the _Delphinus_. They probably think you kidnapped me and stole it. What if they knew the real story? Hahaha."

"Who did they send after us this time…?" Aika asked, looking almost afraid of the answer.

Enrique only smiled at her. "Don't worry. I'd know the silhouette of that flagship anywhere. That's the _Auriga_, not the _Monoceros_."

And so they watched in silence as the lifeboat, a small but rather fortified craft painted a dull orange color, pulled up to the docks next to their own lifeboat. A lone Valuan solder was within, and he got out, stopped at the foot of the ramp, and held up his hand in a signal of a truce. In the other hand was a rolled up scroll.

"Prince Enrique! I trust you are in good health," he said in Valuan, with a deep bow. "I come bearing a message for one Vyse from Admiral Gregorio."

Vyse glanced at Enrique, then looked at the soldier. "Toss the message to me," he said, in Valuan. The guard did so, and Vyse unrolled it, then frowned. "Erm…Enrique? Can you read this for me? I can speak Valuan, but reading it is another story."

Enrique chuckled and took the note, scanning it over momentarily with his cloudy eyes. He then began to read out loud:

"'Hail to you, Vyse of the Blue Rogues, and may the blessings of the moons be upon you. I am issuing forth this formal request to ensure the safe return of Enrique Valdez, Prince and heir to the throne of Valua, whom you so unnecessarily kidnapped. Aside from your brainwashing of him, we trust that the Prince is in good health and await his return with much anticipation. Should you surrender to Valua and turn the Prince over to my flagship, the _Auriga_, I will guarantee you no harm. You have twelve hours in which to do this. However, if you refuse to comply, we will invade the city at dawn and take the Prince, as well as you and your crew, by force. I trust you will make the right decision. Signed, Admiral Gregorio Inez, Commander of Valua's Second Fleet.'"

Enrique began to laugh. "Poor Uncle Gregorio's been mislead. I hope he's not disappointed in me."

"Huh? Uncle?" Aika asked.

"Mmhmm." Enrique smiled fondly. "Gregorio is my mother's older brother. He was in the Armada as an Admiral long before I was born. In fact, it was through him that my mother met my father. He was always good friends with my father, and after he died…Gregorio helped to raise me and look after me. We've always been very close."

"Oh my…" Fina clasped her hands over her chest. "We must avoid fighting him at all costs, in that case."

Enrique shook his head a bit. "Uncle Gregorio's an honorable man. He avoids unnecessary violence at all costs. I know he will not allow harm to befall the city, but we're going to have to confront him one way or another. I've made my decision and I am _not_ going back to Valua until I can change the path that its on. Besides, he's not exactly going to go all-out on us. My mother wants me back alive."

"So what do we do?" Aika asked.

"Tonight we rest, preferably on land," Enrique replied. "Tomorrow we'll confront Gregorio…and see what happens."

* * *

That night they had dinner on board the _Delphinus_, finding the restaurants in Esparanza simply too bland or appalling for their tastes. They brought the ship in closer to the city and then anchored it there for the night, and though it swayed slightly on the dry breeze, Enrique seemed to handle the motion alright. Vyse attempted sleep, but he was simply too excited. He hadn't had a good match up with the Armada in a while, and he wanted to see how the _Delphinus_ would fare alone against an entire fleet of battleships. Another part of him was worried, however; he did not want to cause any harm to Gregorio, not on purpose, and not by accident. He had never fought anything with the intention of disabling it. How would he know how much force to use?

The morning came all too soon, and Enrique had everybody wake up nearly at the crack of dawn. Fina greeted everyone with cups of Silvite tea and was wide awake herself, though Vyse and Aika were dragging and the rest of the crew complained as well. They didn't want to fight at six o' clock in the morning.

Unfortunately for them, Gregorio was tactful, and they realized that he had been watching the clock all night. Through the windows of the galley, Vyse could see the fleet ships preparing for battle, and many already had their anchors raised. That sight was enough to wake everyone up and begin to down their breakfast quickly. Polly could scarce keep up with them.

"Keep your greaves on!" she cried, darting between tables.

"This worries me…" Fina said, poking at her food nervously. "Why is he being so…so prompt?"

"That's just how Gregorio is," Enrique replied. "Now…we really should discuss his tactics, or else even the _Delphinus_ will likely be overwhelmed by him. Gregorio's the oldest admiral we have for a reason – it's because he's so skilled at what he does. At one point in time he was nearly in Galcian's position as far as status goes."

That quieted down the galley. Everyone turned to look at the Prince.

"Jus' tell me where to shoot, Captain! Harharhar!" Khazim called.

Aika rolled her eyes.

Enrique leaned forward, resting against the table. "Throughout his years in Valua's service, Gregorio has earned himself the nickname of 'Old Ironwall'. His tactics focus mainly on defensive strategies. He sets up the tightest defense and waits for his opponent to make even the tiniest mistake – that's when he attacks. The hull of Gregorio's ship has been heavily fortified so he can ram into opponents; it's normally such a suicidal move that nobody ever sees it coming, but it's nothing but a technique that my uncle has perfected to this fleet. If it comes down to us fighting him, we must keep our distance at all costs – but we must NOT use the moonstone cannon. I beg of you."

"Understandable. I completely agree," Vyse replied. "But what about the other ships in the fleet?"

"Oh, I don't doubt that they will attack us." Enrique shrugged. "They'll follow similar strategies, of course, although they'll be unable to ram us. We must do what we can to get through them all until they are no longer a hassle. I doubt their guns can reach as far as the _Delphinus_', so we can likely get off easy if we play our cards right."

"Wow." Aika grinned. "You may not be good at the helm, but you're an awesome strategist, Enrique."

"Ahaha…I guess I should take that as a compliment." Enrique grinned sheepishly.

Suddenly Tika Tika leapt up and pointed out the window, the feathers of his mask swaying with his abrupt movements. "Boats move!" he cried. "Come this way!"

"What?" Hans asked. "How can you tell?"

"No…he's right." Lawrence pulled his spyglass out of his tunic and affixed it on the ships in the distance. "They're coming this way."

"Gah, crud. Polly made some outstanding bacon today, too." Vyse sighed and stood, looking around at those in the galley. "Battle stations, everyone! We've got a long fight ahead of us, I think!"

"Aye aye!" they called as they scattered. Vyse and his friends hurried up to the bridge and turned off the locks on the guns, setting the engines to high. Gregorio's ships were so heavily armored that they were immensely slow, and the _Delphinus _was upon them before they were upon the _Delphinus_.

"Khazim, change the angle of the cannons. We're going to be taking them head-on since the _Delphinus_ is harder to hit from the front," Aika said over the radio down into the cannon rooms. "Tilt them another twenty degrees….more….more…there. Perfect. Have your men load the torpedoes as well."

"Are you sure you're ready to do this?" Vyse asked, looking over to Enrique with concern. The Prince was unusually solemn.

"I'm ready," Enrique replied. "It's something that has to be done, Vyse. I told you, I will not stray from this path I have chosen, no matter what. Just make sure that you do not expose the broad side of the _Delphinus_; she's so long that we're sure to be hit."

The second fleet was sailing in a tightly-knit formation, tiered in such a way that each of the ships covered their neighbors. Vyse identified two destroyers at the front, accompanied by a cruiser and a smaller, lighter ship known as a PT boat. Behind them sailed three densely-armored battleships, behind which sailed the_ Auriga_ herself. On the _Auriga's_tail was another cruiser and a PT boat, and Vyse had to inwardly groan at the variety. Gregorio had covered all the bases.

The sky was suddenly streaked with tails of white, and Vyse realized that the PT boats had already launched torpedoes at him from afar. He quickly spun the wheel around and managed to swing the _Delphinus _out of the way of most of them, but a few exploded near the bow and rocked the ship with their shockwaves. Vyse struggled to remain standing as he brought the _Delphinus _into a climb, only to find Enrique there peering out the window.

"Those PT boats are likely loaded with the heaviest torpedoes we have," he said. "Most of them can probably be repelled by our reactive armor, but the middle of the _Delphinus _is very thin and if they hit us there they'll rip us in two no problem."

"Can they aim them that accurately?" Vyse asked, hissing as another shockwave jolted the ship.

"Yes. Valuan torpedoes don't drop from the sky like the Nasrean models do. They're not meant for use on wooden ships; they're meant to pierce armor."

"Vyse! Incoming!" Aika cried.

Vyse dropped the ship, crying out in frustration as one of the torpedoes exploded a little too close and took out a turret. Over the radio, he could hear Khazim and his men swearing up a storm.

"How far can they shoot us, Enrique?" he asked.

"Not much further than we are now," the Prince replied, following the movements of the two tiny vessels with his eyes. "Our torpedoes aren't terribly reliable because they require electricity for guidance. They're so finicky that half of them usually wind up being duds."

"Alright." Vyse nodded. "I'm going to pull back and lure them out. The _Delphinus_ should be fast enough to catch them before they have time to sail back for cover.

Vyse abruptly turned the _Delphinus_ full rudder and began to sail back in the direction of Esparanza, tailed by several volleys of torpedoes. All fell short of their mark, however, and sure enough the PT boats began to give chase. What he wasn't counting on was for the cruisers to follow suit.

"Of course. He's got the cruisers guarding those puny little things." Aika frowned. "Vyse, what do we do?"

"About face. Full speed ahead," Vyse commanded. "We've probably got enough speed in this thing to outmaneuver them -- they'll overshoot us. We need to get in close range where it's too dangerous for them to fire their heavy stuff."

"Aye aye."

The _Delphinus_ turned on a dime and began to streak back the way it came, churning clouds in its wake. Vyse saw the sky light up with bursts of fire and grinned triumphantly as they exploded behind him. The four ships tried to compensate by firing even farther ahead of the _Delphinus_, but there was so much time between volleys that Vyse had more than enough room to dodge.

"The destroyers are pulling up," Enrique warned. "Looks like they called for back up."

"We've still got time," Vyse replied, eyes flicking to where the rest of the fleet was still hovering in a tight-knit formation. "Aika, target the cruisers first. We can handle the little ones with the secondary cannons. On my mark!"

"Done and done."

The four ships quickly tried to adjust their formation as the _Delphinus_ dropped in the middle of them. The PT boats ducked behind their larger cousins and the cruisers swung around to the side in stride with the _Delphinus, _peppering it with secondary cannon fire. The shots either burrowed into the hull or bounced off the reactive armor, but none were strong enough to breech. Aika trained the turrets on the left cruiser and gave the order to fire, and the _Delphinus _rumbled to itself as the entire left side of the ship lit up in clouds of moonstone powder. The shells punched deep into the cruiser's hull and left the entire ship to collapse in on itself. As it began to drop altitude, Aika sent a second volley and sank the PT behind it.

The second cruiser and PT began to retreat towards the safety of the destroyers. Vyse turned the ship again and the _Delphinus_ let loose another volley of cannonfire, missing the cruiser completely but landing a fatal blow on the PT boat. The small vessel suddenly detonated in a brilliant ball of fire, taking its guardian out with it.

"Whoo! Hit the torpedo room!" Aika cried.

Vyse grinned.

By now, however, the destroyers had caught up with them, and they were equal with the _Delphinus_ in speed. Vyse tried to shake them but was unable to, and the ship lurched violently as it was simultaneously hit from both sides. A secondary explosion on the deck caused a few windows to shatter, and Vyse ducked away as shards of glass hailed down on him.

"We need to get our distance from them!" Enrique cried. "They're too powerful up close."

"What's our damage?" Vyse called.

Fina replied but her voice was drowned out by more explosions. They had gotten in the range of the battleship's cannons.

"Okay guys, hold on. Return fire, keep them busy. I'm going to get us out of here."

The _Delphinus'_ deck came to life in a burst of fire as half the turrets trained on one destroyer and half on the other. Vyse pulled the ship away from the battleships and his two assailants followed, just barely close enough to return fire. Khazim and Aika kept them pinned down though, and it bought Vyse enough time to quickly analyze the situation and hearken back to his past struggles with the Armada. When he was satisfied that he was at last safe from the battleships, he reached out and suddenly threw the _Delphinus _in reverse, halting it dead in its tracks just as he had done with the_ Little Jack _and Belleza. The destroyers went shooting straight past him.

"All cannons, fire!" Vyse cried.

The _Delphinus'_ attack was swift and relentless, catching both ships in the rear. Their engines exploded in a hail of metal shards and shrapnel, and the boats swiftly began to sink.

"Six down, four to go!" Aika cried. "This is intense!"

"We've got an oil leak to port," Fina warned. "I've got Hans and Brabham down there trying to cut it off, but if they hit us on that side we'll likely catch fire."

Vyse grit his teeth and leveled out the _Delphinus_ again to face the remnants of the fleet.

The battleships seemed to refuse to part from _Auriga_, who was sufficiently protected from cannon fire by all three. They huddled tightly together and moved in perfect tandem, leaving very few openings for Vyse to fire in. He stayed out of their range as he studied them, but knew he couldn't float around forever. Already the battleships were trying to catch up with him and he doubted he could handle damage from all three at once.

"Turtling! Completely ingenious," Enrique remarked, marveling at the formation. "The battleships have such a long range that it's almost impossible to approach them when they're like that. And even if you do manage to break their formation, the _Auriga_ will simply ram you and sink you instead."

"But look how they're sailing, almost in a diamond shape," Vyse pointed out. "The _Auriga_ is useless like that. It can't really fire past the other ships and it has no room to move. Making sure we _don't_ try to break the formation could be to our advantage."

"So what do we do?" Enrique asked.

"Currently these ships are only vulnerable from behind," Vyse said. "We're going to make it look like we're trying to get behind them and bait them into trying to get behind us instead. At the last second we'll drop altitude and go below the battleships. That way we can hit them, but they can't hit us."

Enrique didn't reply, but his expression belied his respect for the rogue; he was impressed.

Vyse forwarded his plan to all crewmembers and began to circle wide around the Turtle formation. The four ships adjusted their course in unison and turned accordingly, trying to break him off. Vyse had misjudged their distance, however, and was shocked to see several volleys of cannonfire soaring his way. Unable to react in time, he and the rest of the crew were knocked off their feet as a series of massive explosions to port forced the _Delphinus_ to list dangerously to one side. An eruption of flame followed in the aftermath, blowing off one of the wings and engulfing half of the deck. The oil leak had been hit.

"All hands to the engine room!" Vyse cried over the din of warning bells ringing on the bridge. "Put out that fire immediately! Use magic or water...whatever we've got!"

Aika, Fina and Enrique dashed down the stairs and vanished with the rest of the crew.

Vyse wrestled with the _Delphinus_ to keep her steady as he tried to sidle away back out of the battleships' range. He kept half an eye on the deck below, watching anxiously as plumes of frost and a thick spray of water mixed with the choking black smoke pouring from the hull. His main focus, however, was on his position relative to the Armada ships. They had nearly gotten behind him now, and were slowly gaining distance – just as he wanted.

Several minutes later, Aika, Fina and Enrique returned to the bridge, scorched, sooty, and damp with both sweat and water. The girls reported that the fire had been magically contained and that there was no risk of another one, but Enrique added that the entire port side of the ship had been severely weakened.

"Let's hope we won't have to worry about that, then," Vyse replied, pursing his lips. "They're in position. Here we go."

Abruptly, Vyse spun the wheel around and turned the _Delphinus_ so that she was running a head-on collision course with the three battleships. He quickly dropped altitude and, before they could react in time, managed to slide beneath them, feeling his heart race as cannon fire whisked past them and just over their heads. He pitched the ship at a dangerous angle, almost enough to capsize it, and then gave the order to fire, and the _Delphinus _relentlessly pumped ammunition into the hulls of the three ships. But the _Auriga_ was breaking away, he realized, and swiftly coming up behind them. Vyse hastily pulled the _Delphinus _away, leaving the disabled battleships to slowly sink into the clouds.

"Well…think that's that?" Aika asked. "If he's not ready to negotiate now, there's not much else we can do…"

"He's not moving, but I know we didn't hit him," Vyse replied. "I would guess so. Let's close in."

"No!" Enrique reached out to stop him as he reached for the helm once again. "That's just what he wants you to do. You'll be coming in range of his canons."

"Then what can we do?" Vyse asked.

"He knows this ship too well. The _Delphinus_ was built for mass-destruction, not one-on-one combat." Enrique chewed his lower lip in thought. "We need to stay at the maximum distance that our cannons can fire. Otherwise he just might overpower us, crippled as we now are."

"Hmm…let's circle him, then…bear the starboard since it's unscathed…" Vyse gazed into the distance as he thought. "Aika, notify Hans and get him and a couple other crewmembers to start making emergency repairs below deck. Have Khazim focus ammunition on the starboard guns."

"Aye aye."

Cautiously, Vyse pulled the _Delphinus_ around and began to circle the _Auriga_, gradually closing the loop until he was confident that her shells would hit and the _Auriga_'s wouldn't. Gregorio turned with their every move, bearing only his heavily-fortified bow to them.

"Aim high," Vyse ordered.

The tightest defense was an understatement. Gregorio gave them not an inch of firing room. Vyse ordered the first volley and most shots were harmlessly deflected by the impossibly thick armor on the _Auriga_'s bow. The others missed. Taking aim again, he shot higher this time and managed to plant a few cannonballs onto the decks, but it still was doing them little to no good. The rogue-captain quickly grew frustrated. He had to resist the urge to pull the lever for the moonstone cannon, sitting so tantalizingly near to his fingertips.

Many long minutes passed, and still Vyse could not figure out how to breach Gregorio's defenses. The fuel gage was starting to wane and he was growing irritable. Before he had time to think, there was suddenly a ship sailing straight for them.

"He's going to ram us!" Enrique cried.

"Wha? What'd I do? How'd he get so close all the sudden?!" Vyse felt ready to pull out his hair. Furiously, he reached for the controls and pulled the _Delphinus _up as hard and as fast as he could.

The ear-splitting sound of metal grinding against metal ensued a heartbeat later as the _Auriga_ just barely missed the _Delphinus _and slid against her belly. Sparks flew and illuminated the bridge in an electric yellow for a time before the two ships finally passed. Both Aika and Fina were ghostly pale, scared out of their wits.

As Vyse tried to get the beating of his heart to calm down, the _Delphinus_ drifted of her own accord and began to lazily spin on the point of her good wing. As she did so, Vyse found himself staring at the stern of Gregorio's ship as it tried to loose the speed from its previous charge.

"Something that large and heavy…has far too much momentum…" Fina noted.

"It's perfect!" Vyse cried, snapping his fingers. "Aim for the rear! Take out his engine!"

"Aye aye!" she replied, barking the same orders down into the canon bay.

_Delphinus_ continued to drift, but Vyse turned the wheel and brought her back onto her true course. They were even now with the _Auriga_ and following her in a mostly straight line, save for the _Delphinus_' unsteady wavering. When he was sure Gregorio wasn't going to make any other sudden moves, he ordered the first volley to be fired.

The _Auriga_'s armor was still tough, especially compared to the rest of the fleet's, but many of the shells hit their mark and some managed to pierce through the armor. A second wave further weakened the reinforcements, and the third, fired completely from the main cannons, caused a large explosion to blossom out of the back of the ship. It rocked violently for a moment, swayed, and then stopped in place. The black smoke that churned out of the wounded stern was thick, but they could still see the white flag when it was raised up the command tower several minutes later.

_Auriga_ was done for, and her crew could tell. Lifeboats began to appear around the ship as her crew scattered for their lives. She was slowly losing altitude, but Gregorio stood out on the deck, watching as the wounded _Delphinus_ slowly limped her way towards them. As best he could, Vyse pulled up alongside the Valuan flagship and dropped anchor. Then he, and the others, went out onto the deck as well to face Gregorio.

Gregorio stood against the railing, a proud and dignified old man who, by his grizzled appearance, had obviously been agonizing about the coming battle all night. He smiled a bit as Enrique came out on the deck followed by Vyse and the others, and bowed his head to them stiffly in acknowledgment.

"It seems my men and I severely underestimated the _Delphinus_," he said, surprisingly in Meridian. "Or perhaps we underestimated Vyse. Captain, is there any way I can convince you to return my Prince and nephew?"

"That is not for me to decide, sir," Vyse replied with a bit of a shrug. "Ever since we left Valua, Enrique has been with us of his own choosing. If he wishes to return to Valua, that is up to him."

"Is this true?" Gregorio looked at Enrique with mild surprise. "I had been told you were brainwashed and kidnapped."

"Uncle…" Enrique smiled. It was a sad, but fond smile. "It's…it's true. I left Valua because I simply didn't want to be there anymore. The Blue Rogues are good people. They would never hurt me, or keep me as a hostage. In fact, Vyse has been doing much to protect the world."

"And that's why you left?" he asked.

Enrique nodded a bit. "For the most part. Uncle, surely you feel it. Surely you feel that the path our country is headed down is wrong. Mother won't listen to a word I say, and neither will Galcian! I'm dismissed as being weak, or feint of heart. If my own country won't listen to me, then I will change it by shaping the world around it, and I will do that by traveling with Vyse and his friends as they continue to aid Fina. Otherwise, Mother will continue to spill the blood of innocents, and that blood will continue to stain my own hands."

Gregorio fell silent. There was sadness in his eyes.

"I'm sorry in any case, Uncle, but I just…can _not_ return until Valua is safe. I can and will not return until my mission is accomplished." Enrique smiled a bit. "Please tell Mother not to worry about me, and that I am happy and healthy and doing my best for the country. Please pray for her health, and request that she prays for my safety in return."

Gregorio bowed his head, almost submissively. "You are every bit like your father, Enrique. I can only hope that the path you've chosen is the right one."

"Heh. Me too," the prince replied, a touch grimly.

The two said their goodbyes and then Gregorio left to take the remaining lifeboat to safety. The old man seemed immensely saddened, but Enrique ensured them that it would be best to let him be and sail the crippled _Delphinus_ back into port. Vyse realized that Esparanza may not have had the proper equipment to perform repairs on the injured flagship and prayed to the moons he was wrong.

They returned to Esparanza's port to find a wildly cheering crowd out on the docks. The whole town had apparently gotten up to watch the fight, and now they were practically throwing a riot in the streets in all their excitement. A stray shell had hit the cliffside and blown a good chunk of it off, and with rubble everywhere he wondered how they had room to jump about as they were. He stepped off the ship to receive accolades and many enormous bottles of rum from the ecstatic crowd. It was a shock to see such a complete turn around in the otherwise empty people, the people who, up until yesterday, had absolutely no trace of hope, who never smiled, who never laughed.

Esparanza finally had life again.


	23. The Abyss

It took about two weeks to restore the _Delphinus_ to her former glory, mainly because the tools needed to repair her were simply not in Esparanza. After repeated trips back and forth to nearby Maramba, Brabham had at last gathered the supplies he needed and the repairs went swiftly thereafter. He even made sure to reinforce the pectoral wings so they would not rip off in the Dark Rift.

The people of Esparanza began to clean up their town, and opened their gates to trade with Maramba and other smaller oasis towns littering the desert. When Vyse could do nothing to aid the _Delphinus_ in her repairs, he helped the people of the city rebuild their houses and clear up the streets. Fina worked to make them new clothes and, along with Aika, tend to their general health. Enrique set about establishing a new form of government and commerce for the reborn city. He promised Esparanza's citizens that their abandoned town would become self-sufficient by the time he left. When the _Delphinus_ was at last prepared, the city was beginning to look like a port town again.

On the last day of their stay in Esparanza, as Vyse worked with the rest of his crew to re-stock his ship, Don approached him looking clean and sober and began to pick up boxes to haul into the cargo bay. Curious, Vyse placed a hand upon the man's shoulder to stop him, addressing him with a trademark grin.

"You're actually working?" he asked.

Don smirked, his mustache quirking. "Heh. Why shouldn't I? Look what you four kids did to this town. It don't even seem like Esparanza anymore. Everybody...We actually got hope again."

"You never should have lost it." Vyse shook his head, taking the crate from the man. "But at least now you guys are trying to make up for it. That's better than nothing."

"Ya don't get it, kid." Don stepped in Vyse's way as he began to walk up the ramp into the hull. "You don't realize what kinda feats you've accomplished! Watching you, I...it makes me wanna fly again!"

Vyse paused and blinked. "What? Really?"

"Yes, dammit!" Don pounded a fist into one hand with a confident grin. "I feel like kicking myself now for wasting my life all these years. There's so much I could have seen and done! And now that you four came paradin' in here in your big shiny ship with your big blazing guns, and after you sunk the big bad Armada, I got the need to adventure again! Sailing is all I know and all I do."

"Sailing and drinking," Aika remarked as she pushed past the two with a crate. She disappeared into the hull.

"I...guess what my point is..." Don rubbed the back of his neck, sighing. "I mean, I don't see why ya would, but...your ship does seem rather under-staffed, and...with the proper guy at the helm, ya might have been able to avoid such a crippling blow to the _Delphinus_..."

"You want to join our crew," Vyse finished for him.

Don stared at him for a moment, looking ready to say something, then broke into a defeated smirk. "Aye...aye..."

Vyse grinned. "Are you sure you can handle a _stupid kid_ being the captain?"

Don chuckled a bit. "Only if he can handle a stubborn old man on board..."

"Well. I've always been one for second chances." Grinning broader, Vyse shoved the crate into Don's arms and turned back to take another. "Welcome aboard, Don."

Late that night, Vyse found himself too excited to sleep. He had even given orders for the crew to go to bed early, to prepare for the trip through the Rift, but he himself could not follow such a mandate. With a sigh, he peeked in on Fina, but she was sleeping soundly, curled up with Cupil by her bedside. He wished he could talk to her, but he wasn't about to wake her, either. Defeated, he headed down into the galley to grab a midnight snack.

As he descended the stairs into the galley, Vyse was surprised to see some of the lights on. He realized Polly was sitting by herself in the back of the room, clutching an old photograph to her chest. Upon seeing Vyse, she quickly attempted to hide it and rushed back into the kitchen. He couldn't help but to follow.

"Wanna get a head start on a big breakfast tomorrow for everyone!" she said hastily as he entered. She began to look busy sifting through pots and pans.

"Polly...I ordered everybody to bed three hours ago..." he said. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing! Nothing, nothing," she replied in an overly chipper voice. "Let me see, where did I put the flour?"

"Polly...don't turn into Drachma on me."

The woman froze, staring into a cupboard.

"He kept all of his feelings bottled up inside...and look what it did to him." Vyse stared down to his bare feet at the memory of the grizzled captain. It had been so long since the shipwreck now. "He had a son, you know. He lost his son to Rhaknam. That's why he is...was...hunting him down so fervently..."

Polly hesitated, then sighed, her shoulders sagging. "...I see. That explains a lot. Heh. I know his pain."

Vyse blinked. He was unsure of how to reply to that, but the cook turned to face him, her expression grim.

"Twenty years ago, my husband Robinson came here to Esparanza," she said. "Like Don, he wanted to lead his crew to the other side of the Dark Rift and strike it rich for Anne and I. But when he approached the maelstrom, it sucked his ship in and...they never heard from him again. I kept hoping that perhaps he would find a way out...and maybe he would be here in Esparanza...but..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "I've ran that tavern on Sailor's Isle ever since. To support my daughter."

"Polly, I'm sorry. If you'd like..." Vyse hesitated. "If you'd like, we can search for anything remaining of him while we are in there..."

"No...no...it's not your problem." Polly sighed and turned back to the cupboard, drawing out various ingredients. "I'm sorry. But thanks for listening to me, Vyse."

Vyse knew he wasn't going to get anything else out of her. And he knew now wasn't the time to get his midnight snack, either. Biting his lower lip, he turned and headed back up the stairs.

_Man...the Dark Rift seems to have ruined everyone's lives..._

* * *

The next morning, the _Delphinus_ was filled with an air of anxiety as the crew awoke and prepared for the unknown. It felt as though the ship herself was jittery, as people ran back and forth, many trembling. Vyse made his way up to the bridge to find Aika skittering about and Enrique pacing. Fina was tucked into a corner with her hands clasped over her chest. 

"Raise the anchor. Full speed ahead," he commanded, stepping up to the helm. "We can't look back now. Either we all come out of this thing, or none of us do."

"Yeah..." Aika replied, absently. She reluctantly repeated the orders as Vyse threw the ship into gear.

The docks of Esparanza were crammed with people to see them off, but Vyse couldn't stand to look at them. They idolized him now; how would they feel if the Dark Rift claimed the Delphinus just as it had every other ship that had challenged it? Worse yet, if they died, where would that leave the Silvites? Valua would have free access to the remaining Moon Crystals. What would Don think? What would Polly think? What would Anne do without the support of her mother? So much weight was resting on his shoulders now, and he began to wonder what he had gotten himself in to.

"Vyse? Y-you're sweating..." Fina's soft voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Oh. It's just a little stuffy in here, that's all." Vyse shook his head to clear it. "Don?"

"Aye." The man looked up from where he was both drawing and mulling over charts.

"Tell me everything you know about the Dark Rift."

"Heh!" Don sat up, sticking a quill behind his ear. "Everything I know ain't much. But if you insist." He strode over to the helm, pointing out the window at the roiling clouds that had now swallowed the horizon. "Basically, the Dark Rift is like an enormous hurricane. If we sail straight into the clouds, we'll be torn apart. However, like all hurricanes, the Dark Rift has an eye -- many of them in fact. A bunch of little ones connected to a big one. If we're able to find one of these calm pockets, we should be able to slip in without too much of a problem."

"Relay that to Tika Tika," Vyse told Aika. "Keep him on a look out for breaks in the clouds."

"Aye aye."

Don continued. "I've heard sailors say that, once inside, the ship's compass and all navigational equipment goes dead. Everything looks the same...you sail down one cloud-tunnel, and somehow end up back where you started. One man said, however, that he found his way back out by following a strange glowing plant that grew along a certain path."

"Anything else?" Vyse asked.

Don shook his head. "That's all anybody knows, kiddo. Of course I've heard other stories of ghosts and monsters prowling that place, but...it's likely just nonsense. I'd go mad after trying to find my way through there, too."

"Heh. Alright."

The winds grew louder and more violent the closer they got to the Rift, and Vyse had to fight against the wheel to keep the _Delphinus_ sailing straight. By now, all he could see out any window was swirling darkness, which occasionally reached for them in the form of wispy tendrils, as if teasing them, beckoning them coyly. The lights on board the ship began to flicker.

"Enrique, this thing doesn't run solely on electricity, does it?" Vyse asked, worriedly.

"None of the Armada's vessels do," he replied. "Electricity is simply a luxury for us. It provides heat and light and so forth...but the engines are still completely moonstone-powered. Don't worry. If the power goes out, we'll still be able to move."

"Well, at least we know there's oxygen in there, if plants are growing..." Fina murmured.

Aika stared at her for a moment, looking a bit pale. "There are some places that don't have air?"

Fina simply nodded in reply, staring out the window distantly.

Many minutes passed in relative silence, aside from the roar of the wind outside. The windows shuddered in its presence and the ship began to jump around slightly; Vyse realized that the clouds were beginning to pull it in. Gritting his teeth, he threw the engines into reverse and carefully worked the _Delphinus_ free of its pull.

Tika Tika came clamoring down from the lookout tower a few minutes later, looking even more wild than he normally did. The hunter had lost all the feathers on his headdress and looked quite upset. "No can stand, cap-i-tan," he said. "Tika get blown over. Sorry sorry."

"Agh. It's alright. Your safety is far more important." Vyse shook his head as Fina rushed over to inspect their lookout for wounds. "Just stay on the bridge then."

"Tika Tika see something, though," he replied. "Big hole to south."

"A hole?"

"Big hole. In clouds. All calm, not crazy-crazy."

Piqued, Vyse looked to Don. The man nodded to him reassuringly and went back to the charts.

"We're going south then. Thank you, Tika Tika."

The hunter beamed and then proceeded to press himself into a window, watching the rift with dark and eager eyes.

Carefully, clutching the wheel and braced for even the slightest hint of pull from the rift, Vyse caught the wind and drifted the _Delphinus_ farther south, scanning the clouds meticulously with his spotlights. He was not surprised when they simply swallowed the normally blinding yellow beams up and left him floundering in the darkness almost as much as he had been before. The mighty ship continued to creak and groan as she fought to hold her position, and Vyse realized that the engines had still not been taken out of reverse. The fuel gage was already beginning to rapidly drop as the engines strained their hardest against the fierce pull.

Lightning crackled and roared, occasionally lighting their way with flashes of blue and white. Some tendrils snaked across the deck of the ship and threatened to knock the electricity out, and finally it did, causing Fina to give a small cry of terror. He too jumped, knocking the wheel and nearly sending the ship out of control.

"Tika see! Just little more!" the lookout cried.

"There! I see it too!" Aika exclaimed. "Just let go of the wheel, we should drift right in!"

Sure enough, just before them was the gaping maw of an eye in the clouds. It swirled about lazily, a hypnotizing circle of black mist that still refused to allow in any light. With trembling hands, Vyse let go of the wheel and allowed the winds to draw them in, and slowly the glimmering _Delphinus_ was swallowed, shut off from all light whatsoever. But to their surprise, as soon as they emerged from the veil, they found themselves unmoving, floating in a much larger pocket of the clouds. The raging, howling winds were gone; no lighting, no storms, nothing but silence and darkness.

"D-did we die...?" Aika asked. "Vyse? Are we dead?"

"N...no..." the rogue replied, absently. "No. We're...we're alive."

"Sonuva--," Don swore.

"Enrique. Can we get any lighting? At all?" Vyse asked, after taking a moment to calm his pounding heart.

"I've tried, Vyse..." the prince responded, quietly. "It's not functioning at all. And...look at the compass."

Vyse peeked over the helm at the compass. The needle was spinning wildly in a circle and did not look ready to stop anytime soon, just as it had when they had encountered the Tricyclone so long ago. The rogue sighed, remembering how that encounter had turned out, and shook his head.

"Well...then we have to sail blindly."

"You can't be serious." Aika eyed him.

"The first sailors never had any navigational equipment, and somehow they made civilizations all across the world," he said. "We can't go back now. There is no going back. If we don't reach Yafutoma, then what?"

She bowed her head. "I guess you're right. But...but can't we do something? Improvise something?"

"Electricity is null in here. I can't jump-start the lights," Enrique said.

"Even my magic is fizzling..." Fina replied, quietly. "I-I can't feel the Silver Moon...I'm scared..."

"Fire. What about fire?" Vyse asked, feeling a bit desperate.

"What do you propose we do? Light a huge bonfire on the bow?" Aika demanded. "That won't work. We'll blow the whole ship up!"

"Dammit...dammit all!" he cried, pounding a fist on one of the consoles.

"The only source of energy we have left are the moonstones themselves..." Enrique said. "We have most of them fueling the ship, but the moon crystals..."

"No. Too risky." Vyse shook his head. What if the winds pick up again? We'll lose them."

"What other choice do we have? Think rationally, Vyse," Enrique replied. "We have to cross this rift. We can't sit here forever or we will run out of supplies -- we don't even know how long this venture is going to take. Sailing and exploring is partially about the risk, right? Then we're going to have to risk. If we place the fire crystal in one of the spotlights, it should work."

Vyse sighed. "You're right. I'm being unreasonable again. Alright...Enrique, you know this ship best. You go upstairs and try to hook it up."

"I'll be only a minute." The prince smiled a little at him and then hurried out the door.

Enrique was gone for a little while before he returned and asked for Aika's assistance. She followed him up to the lookout tower where the spotlights were and, as he carefully wired the crystal into one of the massive beacons, she channeled fire magic into it to make it brighter. Suddenly the two gave an irritated cry from above as there came an explosion of pinkish-red light that filled the area with an odd glow. It looked like a dingy sunset, slightly resemblant of Esparanza's skies but even more ominous and depressing. Nevertheless, it was enough for Vyse to see several feet in front of the bow and he relaxed a little. Enrique closed the cover on the spotlight and came blindly stumbling down with Aika, rubbing his eyes.

"It, uh...works..." he mumbled.

"Thanks, guys. It was a huge help, I mean it." Vyse grinned at them, although he doubted they could see it with the obvious spots in their eyes, and began to set the Delphinus in motion again.

Vyse realized that the "eye" was actually a system of funnels that formed a broad network of tunnels throughout the roiling cloud mass. As he emerged from one, he found himself in a cavernous pocket of air where the most bizarre things floated past his eyes:

Chunks of land had been either caught in or swallowed by the rift, sizable enough for the_ Delphinus_ to land on and then some. They were covered in a thick, slimy looking moss that throbbed and pulsated rhythmically as the moon crystal's light came into contact with it. Massive plants, some spongy, some brain-shaped and some long and wavy grew from the land masses, swaying gently in the air. Littering the entire area were remnants of ships, human skeletons and engine parts, and attached to them like parasites were small, bulbous flowers that glowed dimly through the blackness.

"What in the...hell...?" He blinked.

"Aha! I bet those were the plants that old guy talked about!" Don snapped his fingers and then pointed to the little glowing flowers. "Let's try followin' 'em, see where we end up."

"This is so creepy-weird..." Aika shivered and hugged herself. "Can we move? Let's move."

Vyse nodded and gingerly set the ship back in motion. The Delphinus gracefully moved forward, and he could only stare out the windows with wide eyes as they passed the grotesque sights above and below them. The eye of the rift was no simple pocket; it was a graveyard for man and ship alike.

Suddenly, however, the rogue hit a brutal realization: he had no idea where he was going. There were a myriad of other funnels spiraling out of the pocket and he had no idea which one to take. He hesitated, looking around, but nothing seemed promising. They all branched off in different directions and his stomach formed a pit as already he failed to recognize which one he had just come through.

"Vyse. The plants."

Don's voice shook him out of his stupor. "I-I know, Don. But which way are they going? I can't tell."

"Down," Tika Tika said. "I see, go down. Under rocks."

"Under that big island?" Vyse asked the lookout, blinking.

Tika Tika nodded. "I go back to perch, look for flowers." And so said, he left the bridge.

Vyse lowered the altitude of the _Delphinus_ and began to press her forward again. Sure enough, the flowers formed the messy, scattered boundaries of a trail until they vanished into a particularly small funnel, adding sparse illumination to the moon crystal beacon as they traced out a path. Vyse squinted his eyes as he tried to look ahead, carefully angling into the weakest part of the funnel and allowing it to carry the _Delphinus_ along.

"Are we really going to rely on flowers?" he asked.

"Ya got any better ideas?" Don asked, arching an eyebrow.

"You know, theoretically, it makes sense..." Enrique mused, pacing the lengths of the windows. "All plants, no matter what their species, engage in a process known as photosynthesis -- in other words, they make food for themselves. In order for this to happen, they need light and water. I presume the clouds here provide enough moisture to sustain these plants, but light here is sparse. They likely germinate around the areas of the rift that are thinnest, the areas with the most light. Therefore, it would be easy for them to connect one end to another."

Aika stared at the prince and finally shook her head. "Do you have a scientific explanation for everything?"

Enrique blushed. "I...it is hard to forget fifteen years of tutoring..."

"Shit. What the...?" Vyse shook his head. Looming before them was the very same path of flowers he had just followed. Tika Tika came clamoring down from above and gestured wildly at the landscape.

"Chief take wrong tunnel! Tika say go straight!"

"I couldn't hear you, Tika Tika. The radios are down. I'm sorry..." Vyse frowned. "...How did I get turned around so easily?"

"Heh." Don pulled a bottle of loqua out from beneath the chart table and took a swig from it.

* * *

"Where?" 

"If I remember my history correctly, m'lord, I would guess it sank right...about...here." Ramirez took his quill and drew a small X upon the map, eyes narrowed in thought. "It is, after all, the largest gap between the islands, and there are some ruins of the same origin in the area."

"Ruins?" Galcian arched a thick, dark eyebrow at him. "I thought none were left. I do not remember seeing anything spectacular in the area when I raided it some time ago..."

"It is just a small chunk of island, comparatively...likely left as a way to return to the main city should they ever need to again. It is easily overlooked." Ramirez tucked the quill behind his ear and leaned in closer to study the map's grid. "Some continental debris was left behind as well, likely drifting about in Lower Sky. Those would be ideal to place bases upon."

"Ideal, but possible?" The grand admiral studied his accomplice closely, eyes cold and calculating.

Ramirez shrugged. "That is for DeLoco to tell you, not me. It would likely take a combination of velorium alloy and red moonstone fortifications in order for the structures to survive the gravitational pressure that low in the sky. With Valua's technology as it currently stands, I would venture to say that we would not be able to build anything large or extravagant by any means; simply the bare minimum, with no defenses. Barely enough to safely deposit us within its heart."

"And exactly how far down would you estimate this to be?" Galcian almost looked dubious, but the man never gave any clear expressions.

To that, Ramirez looked him square in the eye. "It's on the surface, m'lord."

"What?"

"It sank to the planet's surface." Ramirez smirked lightly. "To the bottom of the world."

Galcian pounded a fist down on the table, causing the navigational equipment scattered all over it to jump. "And only your people can safely make it down there. Don't look so smug, Ramirez."

"Do not be so quick to anger, m'lord." Ramirez bowed stiffly. "If the base proves to be a failure, you and I can always take my ship."

"But that is worthless to me. I need somewhere to analyze the technology." Galcian grumbled to himself, turning his back on Ramirez. "...What has Belleza reported?"

"There are no records of any Valuan sailors ever crossing the Dark Rift," Ramirez replied, returning to the map and beginning to sketch on it with his quill. "So she's been doing extensive excavation on the Great Barrier Reef instead."

"These are Vigoro's explosives?"

"Apparently, m'lord. They're highly unstable and should do the job nicely."

Galcian frowned and shook his head. "Working the entire fourth fleet through that mess will take weeks. She will need...reinforcements. Order Vigoro himself to accompany her."

"Just Vigoro, or the entire third fleet?"

Galcian paused to consider, then chuckled darkly. "...Belleza already failed me once. She lost a battle to a fishing vessel. She is useless on the sea. Now that that rogue has captured the Delphinus, he is able to overcome numbers with relative ease. But even he has his limits. Dispatch both the third and fourth fleets."

"As you wish, m'lord. You are confident they will find a way over then, I take it?"

Galcian's chuckling turned into a laugh. "Do not act so naive! That torpid sibling of yours has proven to be a slippery specimen. She no doubt found a way for them to get through." Slowly, he drew closer to his charge and forced Ramirez to look at him, staring the young man straight in the eye. Far in the back of the Silvite's mind, Ramir shrank back in fear. "You are not...trying to protect her...are you, Ramirez?"

Ramirez frowned and glared at his superior. "I have sworn allegiance to you, Lord Galcian. I have sworn to cull the weak. My sister is the epitome of the word. Only her sacrifice will determine our success."

"I want no room for warmth in your heart, Ramirez."

"There is none, m'lord."

"You must steel yourself."

"My heart is cold, m'lord."

"Hmph." Galcian spat on him, then turned on his heel and swept towards the doorway. "Prove it, Ramirez. I want her dead by the time the base is built. I WANT that crystal."

* * *

"Aww maaannn." Vyse's head dropped to the table, and he sighed. "I give up trying to map this place. It all looks the same...the compass doesn't work...we've been sailing for days and there's no light..." 

"Stop being so irritable!" Aika snapped. "I'm tired of your complaining! I don't exactly like it here either, y'know."

"YOU sail then!" Vyse whirled around on her and shoved a map in her direction. "Go on! Try to figure this damn place out!"

"Shut UP, Vyse!"

"Please..." Fina's voice was barely above a whisper. The Silvite sat huddled in Enrique's throne, wrapped up in a blanket and as pale as death. "Stop...arguing..."

"Maybe if Vyse wasn't so stupid."

"Maybe if Aika wasn't a b--"

"SAY it!" She screeched, leering over him. "Say the word, Vyse! Say it! I dare you!"

"Boob."

"..."

"..."

"I'm sorry, Vyse."

Vyse sighed and shook his head, rubbing his temples tiredly. "Aika...something's not right. You and I don't argue, ever. Fina's sick. Enrique's in his own little world. Are we going nuts? Is this cabin fever?"

"We've sailed for longer with the Cap'n. I think..." she absently replied, sinking into a stool next to him. "It's like crossing South Ocean, remember? We were in there forever..."

"Yeah...but we never acted like this..." he replied.

"How long have we been in here, Vyse?"

"Judging by our food supplies? Maybe three, four days..." he murmured, eyes half lidded. "I can't tell where these damn plants are going. I've probably been sailing in circles the whole time."

Aika wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, staring absently out the windows at the shifting mist in the distance. There was no horizon, simply black above and below and all around, everywhere they looked. It seemed to be closing in on them, ever-so-slowly. It was maddening.

"It's not you, Vyse. Everything in here really does look the same. There's no landmarks, no light, nothing distinctive. The most exciting thing I've seen in days is that boat over there."

"Which one?" he mumbled, returning to his maps.

"The one wedged between the two islands. It's the only one still in tact..." Aika blinked.

Vyse sprang to his feet and dashed to the window, staring out in the direction Aika was pointing. There, run aground on one of the mossy islands, was the ramshackle but whole body of a small sailing vessel, from which a dim, meager light shone through the windows.

"W-wha...?"

"D'ya think...?" She looked at him with wide, round eyes.

Vyse got shivers at the mere consideration. "Aika, they'd have to have been here for twenty years! There's no way!"

"Then what else could it be? Ghosts?"

"What would they eat?" Fina murmured from behind them. "What would they drink?"

Vyse mused on that for a moment, then paused, using his goggle to zoom in on the wreckage. "...There's fishing nets strung around the island. And...there's some really bizarre looking stuff caught in them."

Aika snatched the eyepatch from off his head and looked for herself. "EW! There's no WAY you could get me to eat that stuff! It looks all black and slimy! W-what IS that?"

"Somebody's there. Somebody has to be there. I don't believe it..." Vyse could only stare in the distance in utter disbelief. "That's...that's just disturbing..."

"Either way, we can't just stand here..." Aika said. "We're bound by our oath as Blue Rogues to rescue that person. C'mon! Let's go get a lifeboat!"

Aika dragged her rogue friend down to the escape bay and threw him into one of the lifecraft, leaving Fina to contact the crew and inform them that a possible rescue was coming on board. Enrique noticed them running off in a hurry and followed, bringing some supplies with him. The trio sailed to the tiny island and landed with some trouble, having no real convenient space to do so. The surface of the island proved slippery and unstable, and they sank ankle-deep into the mud. Footprints littered the moss all around them, and the nets, as they flapped slightly in the breeze, were dirty but cared for enough to prevent fraying. The dark, slimy, eel-like fish that had become ensnared in them gave vile hisses and writhed in protest, their eyes little more than pale globs of white. Aika shivered.

Single-file, they climbed aboard the deck of the ship, which creaked noisily beneath their weight. A sudden thump and series of shuffles beneath them signified that the occupant had heard them coming, and Vyse froze. Slowly, he drew his cutlasses and advanced towards the cabin door, but Enrique put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He looked back at the Prince, confused, but instead Enrique went past him, drew his rapier, and slowly opened the door...

A shot rang out in the darkness, followed by a brilliant flash of yellow moonstone powder. Enrique gave a startled cry and stumbled back, and Aika shrieked, diving for him to cover his wounds. Standing there in the doorway, reeling mad, was a savage, ragged figure that almost resembled a man, clutching for dear life the rusted barrel of a musket. His graying hair was a long, tangled, dirty and matted mess that blended seamlessly with an unkempt beard and covered all of his face, save for his wide, beady green eyes. He was skinny and shambly, and clad only in the tattered remains of a sailor's uniform, reeking of dead fish, mold and dust.

"Git back you beasties! You'll attack my home for the last time!" he screeched.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Vyse dropped his cutlasses and raised his arms. "We come in peace! We come in peace!"

"Peace?! That bastard shot Enrique!" Aika cried.

"No...really...I'm alright..." The prince gave a small cough and sat up; there was a small dent in his vest, but nothing more. "I had a feeling something like this would happen...but it still startles you when it does."

Slowly, the man lowered his gun and stared at them, his eyes seeming to grow wider and wider with each passing moment. His slightly emaciated form began to tremble and he wound up dropping his weapon altogether. "H-humans. Other...people. No, that...that's not possible. Y-you must be ghosts! N-nobody comes in here! Nobody!"

Vyse tried to look as unimposing as possible. "Uh...sir, I'm Vyse, of the Blue Rogues. My friends and I are trying to cross the Dark Rift and we saw your ship, so...we came to rescue you."

"Haha...hahaha...HA-hahahahaha!" The man cackled maniacally. "Now I know I'm going mad! Stark raving loony, hoohoo! I'm haunted by my dreams, my past! Curse this bloody graveyard! To hell with the Rift! AHAHAHAHA!"

Aika eyed her friend and sighed quietly, helping Enrique to his feet. "Vyse, this is a waste of time. Let's just go. We need to get to Yafutoma as soon as we can."

"You mean Esparanza! Go haunt Esparanza!" the man cried, making shooing motions at them. "Leave me to my peace, to my misery!"

"We just came from Esparanza. A couple days ago," Vyse explained, carefully. "Do you still have family back there? We can take you to see them..."

"Hah! All I had was my wife and daughter. They likely left town when they realized I wasn't coming back..." he murmured. "...Hope Polly don't think I'm a coward father and a horrible husband..."

"Pol...wait! WHOA!" Vyse shook his head incredulously, jaw dropping. "You're...Robinson then...?"

Slowly, the man studied him, eyes calculating. "...How do you know my name, ghost...? You...how do you know Polly...? Git outta my head!"

But Vyse persisted. "Polly and Anne have been searching for you these past twenty years, Robinson. They support themselves by running a tavern on Sailor's Isle. Polly decided to come with us on our journey. She's back there, on our ship. She's here with us, Robinson."

"L-lies..." And yet Robinson seemed desperate to hear it, desperate for reassurance. "You...she..." He slumped down to his knees, clutching at his head. "W-what am I supposed to believe? What am I supposed to do? This can't be true after all these years! This place...it's to be my grave!"

"Robinson, let me ask you something." Vyse smiled. "Why have you fought to survive all these years? It was with the hope that you would find a way out, wasn't it? A way to return to Polly and Anne?"

Robinson slowly lifted his head and stared at Vyse, eyes wide and, he noticed, a little bloodshot. "Yes...Yes, that's it, isn't it? I-I sailed in circles for so long...Lost...So lost. So many circles, Mr. Vyse. Then one day I ran out of fuel and had to stop the circles. ..and I landed on this island and I told myself I'd get fuel from the other ships and then I could sail away again. We tried to find a way out. We did. But the lads...they went crazy. Crazy, I say! They started hearing voices and jumping overboard, u-until it was only me left." Robinson suddenly shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, giggling nervously. "And I forgot why I was trying to even leave in the first place. Who is Polly? What is an Anne?"

"What should we do?" Aika asked, glancing to Vyse uncertainly. "I know we can't just leave him here, but would Polly really want to see him like this?"

"He's really not that far gone," Enrique observed, rubbing at his chest absently. "His condition is born out of isolation, not any real madness. I think he may be able to recover."

"I sure hope you're right." Vyse frowned, then crouched down beside Robinson and cautiously grabbed the man's arm. "Robinson...come with us. We're going to get you out of here. We're going to go see Polly."

"Yes...oh yesyesyes!" Robinson began to weep. "Free! Free at last! Do you hear that, beasties? FREE!"

The trio returned to their lifeboat and took Robinson with them back to the _Delphinus_. There, Robinson was given a bath and a haircut, and the girls worked away to trim his mop of hair and shaggy beard into something far tamer. When they were finished, Enrique gave the man a clean suit to wear and the four of them finally took him down into the galley, where they found Polly keeping herself busy with a large and elaborate dinner. Awkwardly, Vyse approached the kitchen and leaned against the counter.

"Hey...Polly..."

"What is it, Vyse?" she asked distractedly, not turning to face him.

"Would you object to a new crew member? I know every one we bring on board is an extra mouth to feed."

Polly almost sounded exasperated. "What kind of question is that? No, I don't mind, but what are you going to do? Fish a sailor out of the clouds here?"

"Well, actually...yeah."

To that, Polly finally turned and gave him a look, but when she noticed an extra person in the room her gaze swept past him and fell on the restless Robinson. He stared at her in turn, clearly recognizing her, and in unison they cried out and ran for each other, sharing a clinging embrace.

"I think we should leave them alone for now," Fina said, tugging her blanket tighter around her shoulders. "Let's go back to the bridge."

A few days later, Robinson came up to the bridge and wandered over to the chart table, where Don was agonizing over the maps they had attempted to draw of the Rift. Considering a moment, Robinson suddenly leaned over and snatched the quill out of Don's hand, scribbling over everything he had previously worked on.

"Hey! What's the big idea, wise guy?" Don demanded. "You're going to throw us completely off course!"

"You're already far off course," Robinson replied, not even bothering to look up at him. "I never could find my way out of this place, but I know the eye here like the back of my hand."

"Is that true?" Vyse turned from the helm and blinked over his shoulder at the man. "How are you feeling, anyway?"

"Captain, if anything assures you of my sanity, let it be this." Robinson gestured to the map as a way of beckoning him over. "I wandered around here for years before my ship could no longer fly. I've seen almost everything. A little more time, and I probably could have found my way out. I just wish the boys had held on that long..."

Curious, Vyse ambled over and peered at the map, only to discover that he and Don had been completely off according to Robinson. "What is this? It looks like there's more than one eye."

"One could say there are several eyes," Robinson confirmed, nodding to the map. "More accurately, I believe they are mini-sky rifts."

"What do you mean?" Vyse asked.

"Here, look." Robinson leaned against the table and began to refine his drawing, gesturing to a large circle representing the eye and beginning to partition it off. "The eye is just like the eye of any storm, calm and harmless. The eye of the Dark Rift here is, I think, roughly the size of Mid Ocean, if not a little smaller. But for some reason, it's divided into several parts by walls of clouds venting up from below, just like sky rifts. This makes it look like you're sailing farther than you actually are, when in reality you're pretty much going nowhere. At one point in time I wound up circling one of these eye chambers for a week."

"Wow. No wonder we got confused. I was expecting the eye to be a perfect circle," Vyse replied.

Robinson took the quill and began to draw a roughly S-shaped line from one end of the map to another. "These are where there's holes in the sky rifts, just like the cloud tunnels in the outer fringes of the Dark Rift itself. If you follow this path you'll go right through the center of the eye and come out on the other side, but I never could find my way beyond that point. I can't tell if it's even north or east or what, but I know it's opposite of here."

"Well, what are we waiting for, then?" Vyse demanded. "Everyone on this ship is ready to strangle each other. Let's get out of this place!"

* * *

Knowing the way through the rift made it no more spectacular than wandering about it aimlessly did. The travel was boring and monotonous, and everything largely looked the same. Vyse could tell they were making progress, however, slowly but surely. He paid close attention to the shapes of the islands they passed and what the ships wrecked on them look like, and had Robinson and Don record each and every thing they saw. He checked with them often to make sure he hadn't gotten himself turned around, using the battered skeletons of the ships as something akin to a trail of breadcrumbs. 

On the second day of travel, however, things grew decidedly more strange on board the _Delphinus_. Many crewmembers remarked about how much lighter they felt, and Vyse agreed that he almost felt like he was floating. When people jumped, they seemed to hover in the air for longer than usual; when they walked, they seemed to have extra long strides. As the hours passed, these things became more and more apparent, and many began to fear the Rift was driving them insane. It wasn't until all reality seemed to vanish and everything and everyone began to float in the air that Vyse finally said something.

"Okay...we're floating. We can't all be hallucinating at the same time."

"Vyse! What's going on?" Aika looked panicked as she "swam" her way onto the bridge, only to go gliding right past him and into the windows. "Ahh! This sucks!"

"If I knew, I'd tell you," Vyse replied, grinning a little. "Robinson? Any ideas?"

"We're nearing the heart of the eye now. It should be on the other end of this sky rift," Robinson remarked, attempting to tie himself down to a pipe. "This happened to me when I sailed through it too. I don't know if the eye itself is causing it or if it's what's in the eye that is."

"Why, what's in the eye?" Vyse asked.

Robinson's eyes widened a little as he stretched his arms out. "Enormous hunks of rock, big as an island and black as night! I've never seen anything like them."

"How are those different from the other islands in here?" Aika asked, flailing as she floated upside down and tried to right herself.

"You'll see," Robinson said. "I dunno what they are...Never could figure it out."

"Hey Aika, how's Fina feeling? Maybe she can tell us what's going on," Vyse said.

Aika frowned to that, gazing at Vyse from upside-down. "She's not doing too well. I think her sickness got worse. I don't know what's wrong with her, but I'm glad the worst this place has done to me is made me grouchy."

"She hasn't left her room all day, has she?" he asked as the realization hit him. "Dammit, this ship needs a doctor..."

Resignedly, Vyse pushed himself back towards the wheel and tried to steer it while floating above it. It proved to be awkward and difficult, but after several unsuccessful attempts to return himself to the ground, he gave up and simply let himself float. The _Delphinus_ slipped quietly into the sky rift in the meantime, pulling the clouds around herself like a woolen blanket. As she quietly churned her way through, Vyse realized that it was steadily growing darker, and a strange, barely audible, high-pitched whine hung tenuously on the air. Suddenly the clouds swirled around them and strangled out all light. Vyse felt a pit form in his stomach.

And then the veil of clouds brushed back and the crew of the _Delphinus_ found themselves floating in the most surreal environment they had ever seen. It was almost literally pitch black, to the point where they could only barely see past the_ Delphinus_' bow, but there was still scant illumination scattered around them in the form of strangely luminescent plants and coral that glowed in pale neon hues. Drifting between them in rather large schools were masses of fish, some that were a pale, almost sickly white and some that glowed faintly in the dark. They almost looked like phantoms, or, when they were far away, wandering stars that fell from the sky.

But what really made Vyse gawk in awe was what rested in the center of the eerie coral garden. A huge chunk of rock, easily as large as Pirate Isle, hovered with a few smaller counterparts lazily orbiting it. It was blacker than anything, and did not reflect either the glows from the plants and fish or the searching beam of the moon crystal. In fact, it seemed to absorb all light period, as if a chunk of space and time were simply missing where it stood, as if it were a void that stretched on forever. Despite this, the rocks somehow gave off a radiance of their own, and that was what the plants bathed in; Vyse wasn't sure if he could call it light, because it wasn't necessarily bright or warm, but it bathed everything in a purple-black glow and tinted everything in the ship odd colors.

"Whoa..." he breathed, unable to tear his eyes away from the stones. "Wh-what is that...?"

"I don't know. I have no idea..." he heard Robinson say from behind him. "But they do weird things. Obviously we're floating -- I think that's due to these -- but they also warp moonstones, I've found."

"Warp moonstones?" Vyse echoed.

"Aye." Robinson nodded. "I once got as close as I dared to the big one to try and see what it was. I held a red moonstone up to it for light and it suddenly turned purple. So then I tried other moonstones, and they all changed to their opposite polarity. But the weirdest thing was when I held a silver moonstone up to it."

"What happened?" Aika asked.

"Well, as I'm sure you know, silver moonstones don't have a natural element like the other moonstones do," Robinson replied. "So what's the opposite of a silver moonstone? I...really don't know." He paused and scrunched up his face in thought, grasping for words with which to describe what he had seen. "The silver moonstone...twisted. That's the best way I can describe it. The light in it immediately went out and it clouded with oily darkness. I think it was trying to become a stone like one of these."

"So...wait...Are these moonstones too?" Aika's eyes went wide. "Black moonstones?!"

"That can't be possible, can it?" Vyse asked, but he too was shocked. "There's no Black Moon. Right?"

"Well, nobody's been on this side of the world before," Enrique remarked as he awkwardly floated up onto the bridge, holding a cannonball in a vain attempt to weigh himself down. "It would be easy for us to have missed it all these years, believing that the world is flat."

"Gah! If it warps moonstones, we need to get the moon crystal back inside!" Vyse cried. "I don't think the Silvites are going to be terribly thrilled if we bring them back two purple crystals."

"I don't know. Would it affect moon crystals?" Aika asked. "They're different from moonstones – way more powerful."

"Look at how big it is," Enrique said. "Have you ever seen another moonstone that large? It's possible it may be on par with our moon crystals."

"Alright, I'm going to take it down. We'll be sailing blindly again, but if we take it slow and swing wide around here, we should be alright," Vyse said. "Aika, would it be possible at all for you to put a delta shield around the moon crystals?"

She blinked. "I can try. I've never shielded an object before. I'll go get the green one." She paused as she floated into a corner and got stuck. "...Maybe. Someday."

Vyse chuckled and carefully pushed himself towards the door. "Don, take the helm. Keep us moving. I don't want to stay exposed to these things for too long."

"You got it, captain."

Vyse found a problem with his plan as soon as he emerged atop the lookout tower. Where before he had been held in place by the roof and walls of the bridge, there was no such thing atop the _Delphinus_. He began to float off and away from the ship and immediately panicked, flailing in a desperate attempt to latch on to something, and finally managed to grab a rail just as the stern of the ship passed underneath him. Heart pounding, Vyse took a moment to compose himself before carefully pulling himself along the rail, over to the spotlight the moon crystal had been placed in.

He hopped over to the spotlight and clung to it instead, opening it and sighing in relief as the moon crystal appeared to be unharmed. Gingerly, he picked it up and tucked it away in his tunic, and it radiated warmth into his body as if to thank him for his timely rescue.

He followed a similar climbing method to pull himself back into the _Delphinus_ and then pulled himself down the ladder back to the main deck. There, however, he paused, gazing down at the stairs that wound deeper into the ship and to their private bunks. Someone was crying below him.

"Don't go down there right now," he heard Enrique say quietly from behind him. Blinking, he turned and gazed questioningly at the prince.

"Why? I've got to take care of my crew."

"The crew is fine. A little scared, but fine," Enrique replied. "I've got them tying down heavy things like cannonballs so that when we stop floating, nobody gets hurt."

"Then who's crying?" Vyse asked.

"It's...well..." Enrique hesitated, gazing down the stairwell himself. "After hearing Robinson's story, things make a little more sense. I have to wonder if living by the Silver Moon makes Silvites different somehow...If it makes them more like the moon itself."

Vyse blinked. "You think these stones are what's making Fina sick?"

"I'm almost positive," Enrique replied. "And if that's the case we should get her out of here as soon as possible. You can't help her by going to her now. The only thing we can do is get her away from these moonstones."

* * *

It was difficult to strike a balance between moving fast and moving carefully, and Vyse took shifts with Don to make sure the _Delphinus_ was constantly moving. Within the next two days they were out of the black moonstones' grasp and the ship finally returned to normal, but the crew had to tidy much of it up as many things had floated far from their original resting place. Regardless of Enrique's precautions, a few people still got hurt and Aika took up the role of ship doctor to keep herself busy. All was quiet from Fina's room, but Polly noted that the kitchen cabinets had been left open overnight for two nights in a row and that the Silvite's favorite things to eat were missing from them. She reasoned that Fina likely emerged to eat when others weren't around. 

"This place is so depressing..." Vyse murmured. "I hope we can find our way out soon."

Gradually, the endless vortex of clouds swirling around them grew lighter and lighter. Once again they could see the strange bulbous flowers growing, and spirits on the ship began to slowly lift. On the third day, Vyse picked up the howling of wind and found himself lost in a winding tunnel of clouds.

"This...this is it! This is as far as I've ever been," Robinson said, trembling. "I never could find my way out of these clouds, but I'm positive this is the other end of the Rift."

"We're gonna make it!" Aika cried, excitedly. "And in just over a week, too! You're amazing, Robinson!"

The ragged sailor shook his head. "Don't celebrate just yet. Who knows how long it will take us to get out of here? This is the fruit of me being stuck in the Rift for twenty years, girl! And I still don't know my way around it!"

She grinned, sheepishly.

Vyse frowned thoughtfully and focused his goggle, studying the clouds swirling around him. Suddenly, he caught a flicker of movement slithering down one of the tunnels and blinked.

"Hey...what's that?"

"What's what?" Aika asked.

"I saw something moving."

"Where?"

"Down that tunnel." Vyse pointed straight ahead of where the ship currently hovered, but nothing was visible.

She frowned. "I don't see anything. Are you sure it wasn't just a fish or something?"

"It might have been, but it looked big." Vyse blinked. "Let's follow it and see where it goes."

"What? But that might get us even more lost!" Aika cried.

"Do you have any better ideas?" he asked.

"Well...no."

He grinned. "Then let's go."

Vyse carefully navigated the _Delphinus_ through the tunnel and, sure enough, caught sight of the strange slithering movement again. He saw a flash of coppery skin and slick, shiny scales, and watched as it coiled off to their left.

"It's swimming through the clouds! What in the world is that?" Aika asked.

"Looks like an eel or somethin'." Don tugged on his mustache thoughtfully. "...A really, really big one."

Vyse turned the ship and followed the creature through the mists, winding his way through the cloud tunnels. It was fast, and he had to struggle to keep up with it as it threaded its way between the clouds, there one minute and gone the next. Finally, they emerged in a large nexus of vortexes and he caught it out in the open, marveling at what he saw.

It was easily long enough to coil itself around the _Delphinus_ several times, with long wavy fins along its back and fanning out gracefully at its tail. Its face was beastial and vaguely doglike, but it had long "whiskers" trailing from its muzzle, like a catfish, and horns sweeping back from its head. It wasn't an eel but it wasn't a snake, and it certainly wasn't a fish. In fact, it didn't even look native to the Dark Rift at all!

The strange serpent noticed their presence and turned, its movements as fluid as pure water. Vyse started and pondered retreating, unsure if the eye it turned on them was malicious or curious.

"It almost looks like the serpent beasts on the Valuan flag..." Aika said, voice hushed. "Is that what it is, Enrique?"

"No, I...I actually don't know what this is," the prince replied, blinking. "I've never seen a creature so huge in my life!"

Slowly, the creature slithered over to them and coiled itself loosely around the ship. Vyse felt the _Delphinus_ sink slightly but he didn't dare move, unsure if the large beast would be able to harm it or not. He realized it had arms and legs, and it rested its front claws on the deck as it pulled itself up to peer into the bridge. Vyse jumped as he found a pair of huge golden eyes staring at him through the windows, blinking three sets of translucent eyelids.

"Hey, this thing's pretty cool." Vyse grinned, slowly walking up to the window. He placed a hand against it, and the creature snaked out a forked tongue and pressed it against the window in turn, as if trying to taste him through it.

"Should we be doing that?" Aika asked. "It looks like he's trying to eat you."

"Anguila...They're sea serpents. The Yafutomans call them dragons and believe they are good luck," came a soft voice from the doorway. Vyse turned to see a tired looking Fina there, with a blanket hugged tight around her shoulders. She gave him a tiny smile.

"Fina! Are you alright?" He asked, moving towards her.

"I'm fine now, just very tired." She clasped her hands over her chest. "I had so many nightmares. They were scary."

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Fina. We were worried about you." Enrique smiled.

"Oh, thank you." She gave him a little bow, and Vyse began to relax; Fina was definitely back to normal. "Your concern means a lot to me."

"So hey, what's the deal with this thing?" Aika asked, peering out the window. "Does it want to eat us?"

"I've never heard of an Anguila eating a ship, but I've heard of them breaking a few. They can be a bit territorial, but they're not usually hostile," Fina replied, shuffling over to gaze out at the creature. "Oh my, it's quite big isn't it? I wonder why this one's all the way out here in the Dark Rift."

"Is it just going to sit here forever?" Aika asked. "I mean, we can't sail with this thing hanging off us like—EEK!"

The ship suddenly jolted as the Anguila uncoiled itself from it, snapped it up in its jaws and swam off, plunging into the clouds. The crew below deck cried out in surprise and everyone had to reach out to steady themselves as they were nearly thrown from their feet by the sudden lurch in movement. Vyse could not see where the sea serpent was going but the clouds were flying past them in a blur, and they were certainly traveling faster than the _Delphinus_ did under its own power.

"Ahh! What do we do!?" Aika cried. "Can we shoot at it like this?"

"No, wait!" Enrique pointed out the window. "Look!"

Light was beginning to form ahead of them and pierce through the clouds. All of the sudden the Anguila picked up speed and burst through them, and then they were greeted by an explosion of blinding sunlight, enough to make them cringe away and cover their eyes. When Vyse looked up again, he found himself surrounded by blue skies and fluffy white clouds, and the sun shone behind the Anguila as it hovered in front of them, peering over the bow of the ship expectantly. It blew out a loud whuff of air from its nostrils and then turned around, coiling over itself, and plunged deep into the clouds.

"We...we're out. We're out! We made it!" Enrique cried.

Vyse whooped excitedly, his heart leaping in his chest. "Hey Aika, remember what you said about old legends not paying off?" He grinned. "That one turned out to be true. Dragons are good luck!"


	24. Yafutoma Dawn

Vyse had never been so happy to be in open sky in his life. He wasn't sure if it was because he had been trapped in the Dark Rift for around ten days or because it was characteristic of Yafutoman airspace, but the sky seemed so much clearer and bluer than it did back home, and the air felt crisp and fresh. He and his crew spent much time out on deck, reveling in the sunlight and the refreshing air currents. It felt like nothing could ever go wrong.

On the third day of sailing, Tika Tika reported a strange line of blue that covered the northern horizon for as far as he could see. Vyse kept his eyes glued to the north and watched as the blue stripe steadily grew larger. By the time the sun was setting, Vyse realized that what Tika Tika had spotted was an entire continent – and it was covered completely in water.

"Wh...Is this it? Is that land?"

"Well, uhm...Yes and no," Fina replied, gazing out the window thoughtfully. "You could say Yafutoma is a continent, I suppose. This mass of land extends very far north, but it's actually a large basin hundreds of feet deep, filled with saltwater. Yafutoma itself is actually scattered across many small islands floating in this water."

Vyse blinked and gazed downwards as the _Delphinus_ began to pass over the water-covered continent. The water was the purest, most crystaline blue he had ever seen, and it reflected the sky in perfect bands of pink and orange before them. It glittered blindingly as it caught the remaining sunlight, forming what almost looked like a road paved with liquid gold to the west. In many places he could see quite far down, and saw large, multihued aquatic fish darting about in the veil-like wake of the passing ship, some even leaping up above the surface for mere heartbeats.

"What's saltwater?" he finally asked.

Fina blinked. "This is saltwater. It's denser than regular water, because it has salt mixed in it. Because of that, it's unsafe to drink, but it still has many healing properties."

"So...you're saying the entire Yafutoman continent is covered in saltwater, and there's islands floating in the water instead of the air?" Vyse blinked. "And look at all the fish in there! I've never seen so many aquatic fish! Why don't they fly?"

"There's plenty of flying fish too." Fina giggled. "According to Silvite studies, all fish used to live in the water at one point. Eventually the fish learned to fly, but their ancestors can still be seen here in Yafutoma."

"A sea of water...that's amazing." Vyse marveled at the thought; it was something he hadn't imagined, even in his wildest dreams.

"I can't believe there's so much water in one place!" Aika exclaimed, glued to the windows. "Look! You can't even see the edge of the continent anymore! There's no more clouds!"

"Valua has several large lakes, but nothing like this..." Enrique shook his head, eyes wide.

Vyse gazed around, leaning forward to peer out the windows as far as he could. All he could see on any horizon was water. It blew his mind.

"I wanna go down there."

"What?" Aika blinked. "Why?"

He shrugged, grinning. "To see what salt water is like."

"Fine, but you have to find some land first." She folded her arms across her chest, stubbornly. "I'm certainly not going with you."

Vyse smirked. "You're no fun."

The next day, Tika Tika spotted an island in the water and Vyse adjusted his course accordingly. He was disappointed to find that it was small and uninhabited, but it was densely carpeted in a vast array of colorful plants, fed by a bubbling spring. Despite Aika's protests, Vyse pulled the _Delphinus_ up to the island and carefully landed it in the water, where it floated as easily as it did on air. The crew quickly rushed off the ship, eager to place their feet on land again, and began to wash their clothes and refill the _Delphinus_' supply of stored freshwater.

The sun was warm but not unpleasantly so, as a steady breeze blew all around them. The air was scented with salt and a variety of spicy fragrances, and Vyse couldn't decide which intrigued him more. Many of the crewmembers lounged around on the beach as they waited for the laundry to dry, but Vyse noticed Polly was unusually excited. At last she ran up to him with a bundle of plants in one hand and shoved it in his face.

"Look! Look!" she cried, green eyes wide and round.

"What?" He blinked, bewildered.

"Smell this plant. Tell me what it reminds you of," she demanded.

Vyse blinked and did so. It was pungent and spicy, almost enough to make the eyes water. "It smells like...Wait! That's Khale!"

Polly nodded quickly. "It's growing all over the place, along with about a dozen other rare herbs and spices. Do you know what this _means_ for my cooking?!"

"Do you know what this means for our purses?!" Aika shook him. "If we took this stuff to Sailors' Isle or Maramba, we'd be rich! It'd make us for life!"

Vyse's eyes went wide at the realization. "This is a real treasure island..."

"But if we take too much, it might destroy the island..." Fina clasped her hands over her chest. "These plants are already very rare. If we harm them, they may never grow back."

By now the crew had picked up word of their conversation and was listening in eagerly. In particular Vyse could feel Osman's beady black eyes on him, boring into his chest. He began to sweat a little.

"How many spices would you say are here?" he asked of Polly.

"Several pounds, easily," the cook replied. "Certainly enough to guarantee that we won't be eating plain salted fish for a couple years."

"Alright...you guys can pick them if you want, but take no more than you can carry in your own two hands." He put his hands on his hips, giving his crew a stern look but a rogueish grin. "If I see anyone trying to fill the laundry baskets with spices, you'll be swimming to Yafutoma."

A few people laughed. Some "Aye aye!"s were tossed his way before they scattered, disappearing into the forest.

"Oh...I hope they'll be careful..." Fina frowned, watching as Khazim and his gunmen thundered off.

"I don't get it," Marco said, sauntering up beside them. "What's so special about a buncha plants?"

"They're spices," Vyse explained. "Since most sailors can't freeze food like we do, they cook with lots of spices to mask the fact that their food is stale. That puts spices in really high demand, and since they're so hard to get, they're really expensive. I think most, if not all of the wealthiest Nasrean merchants deal in the spice trade."

Marco shrugged. "Sounds like a bunch of boring business stuff to me. C'mon, Vyse! Let's go swimming instead!"

Marco tagged him and ran off, laughing, and Vyse had to laugh in turn. Glancing around, he found that Aika had joined in the spice hunt, so he wrestled off his tunic and boots and followed the boy in. The water was rather cold, and did, indeed, taste as salty as it smelled. He cringed and coughed as he accidentally swallowed a mouthful, earning a fit of giggles from Fina on the beach.

"Can you swim?" he called to her.

"Not very well," she called back, smiling and smoothing her skirts out as she settled down on the sand.

"You'd better be careful then." He grinned. "Or I might come over there and pull you in!"

Fina only giggled more. "I think _you_ should be careful. Look behind you."

Vyse blinked and turned around. There, cutting the water like a knife, was a large gray fin sticking just above the surface. Marco's eyes went wide, and together he and Vyse began to scramble back to the shore.

"AHH, WATER SHARK! WATER SHARK!" the boy cried.

The fin drew closer and closer, undeterred by the shallow water. Vyse watched with wide eyes as it picked up speed, until it suddenly emerged with a tiny splash. The "shark" turned out to be little more than Cupil, who had shapeshifted enough to grow a fin on his head.

"What the heck?" Marco boggled.

Vyse only laughed.

* * *

It was a well-deserved day off for the crew of the _Delphinus_, one Vyse knew they needed. By sundown they had all returned with their spices and the clothes were dry, so they packed their things and returned to the ship. With a great spray of water the _Delphinus_ was finally airborne and flying again, and soon the little island vanished behind them.

It was another week before Tika Tika ever spotted land again. Vyse was out on deck attempting to fence with Enrique, but it was a style of sword fighting entirely unfamiliar to him and the prince beat him quite thoroughly as amused crewmembers kept score. As he paused to get a drink of water, he heard the lookout call down to him and saw him pointing ahead of the bow. Vyse fumbled for his goggles and focused in, barely able to make out some rocks and trees through the ocean spray.

"Do you think that's it?" Enrique asked, tucking his fencing mask under one arm.

"I don't know. I can't tell if there's houses or not. Fina said the island where their capital lies is very large, though...and all these islands look quite small."

"Hm...Northeast she said, right?" Enrique leaned against the rail thoughtfully, tapping his rapier against his leg. "Those are all too far west. That can't be it."

"Damn. Oh well." Vyse shrugged, then tugged his mask back over his head. "Wanna go again?"

"You aren't tired?" Enrique grinned.

"Oh, I am. But I'm not quitting until I beat you."

The prince laughed, but as he moved back into the small fighting ring they had improvised, he paused and glanced around. "Hey...do you hear something?"

Vyse blinked and tugged off his helmet, straining to listen. "I hear some kind of chugging noise. Is that an engine? Where's that coming from?"

"I don't know. There's nothing around us as far as I can see." Enrique frowned. "I wonder where—"

"Vyse! Look up!" Aika suddenly called from the bridge.

Squinting past the sun, Vyse peered up into the clouds and was shocked at what he saw. Three ships, small, light, and made of wood, were descending upon the _Delphinus_ from Upper Sky – from heights no ship he knew of could go. They were foreign vessels, roughly rectangular in shape, with only a single large sail and three cannons on either side. Each vessel was lovingly crafted and decorated, painted in vibrant colors to look like a fierce beast of some sort. Their flagship – Vyse could only assume it was a flagship – was shaped to look like two dragons flying together, one red and one blue.

The crew watched in awe until one of the strange ships fired at them. The cannonball sailed clear past the _Delphinus_ and hit the water, exploding in a misty spray.

"A warning shot...They're going to attack us! Everyone back inside!" Vyse cried. "Hurry! Get to your battlestations!"

As the crew scrambled to comply, Vyse and Enrique rushed to the bridge, shirking fencing equipment as they ran. The Yafutoman ships were fast, and one was already firing upon them by the time Vyse was back at the helm. He pulled the _Delphinus_ up and tried to match their altitude, but the flagship and its smaller companions vanished back into the clouds, leaving the _Delphinus_ floating aimlessly.

"...What just happened?" he asked.

"It appears they hit us and ran," Enrique replied. "They don't seem to have done much damage. Perhaps that is why they left."

"They didn't really try," Vyse pointed out. "I think--"

He couldn't finish. The two smaller ships had materialized out of the clouds again, dropping down on either side of the _Delphinus_. Vyse gawked as he watched ropes fly onto the deck, securing themselves around the railings.

"They're boarding us!" Aika cried.

"Damn!" Vyse tried to compose himself, nearly overwhelmed by the quickness with which everything was happening. "They lured us out right to where they wanted us. C'mon, guys! We've gotta defend the ship!"

Vyse grabbed his cutlasses and ran down the stairs, not even waiting for the others to follow. They were close on his heels, though, and when they emerged back on deck they found that the invaders had been waiting for them, forming a semi-circle along the railing. They were clothed in lightweight armor, most of it cloth and leather, and had fabric masks wrapped around their faces so that the only thing Vyse could see were several sets of dark eyes staring back at him. In their hands were a variety of weapons, none of which he had ever seen before, from three-pronged blades to silver stars to long, slender swords.

With her hands held out to the side to show she was unarmed, Fina stepped forward and began talking to the men in a complicated foreign tongue. They did not move a muscle as they listened to her, nor did they reply when she finished. It wasn't until she tried a second time that she got a response, and it came from a deep voice behind her. The four whirled around to find two identical men standing above the bridge, watching them like hawks.

They were both fairly tall men, athletically built and in great shape. Their skin was lightly tanned and bore several faded scars, and Vyse guessed that was due to how lightly they were armored. They only wore a pair of baggy pants dyed a rust color, tucked into simple black boots. Equally as simple were the leather chestpieces they wore that left their shoulders and arms exposed, one dyed red and the other dyed blue. The two of them had very sharp and angular features, and had shaved their heads save for a strand of bangs and a large topknot. Both of them had hair as black as night and eyes that seemed to stare right through him.

The behavior of the twins was decidedly odd. As Fina spoke to them, Vyse realized that one twin would start a sentence and the other would finish it. What confused him even more, however, was the realization that both of them were completely unarmed.

"The left one is Jao and the right one is Mao," Fina said at last, clasping her hands over her chest. "They say they are on a mission to collect a thousand swords."

"And I take it they want ours?" Vyse asked.

Fina nodded, looking uneasy. "They say we are either to throw down our weapons and surrender, or they will kill us personally and take the weapons from us."

He didn't like the sound of that. Turning, he glared up at the two men, and they glared right back down at him in unison.

"Tell them they have thirty seconds to get off our ship or I'm going to kick their ass."

She gasped. "Vyse!"

"I mean it," he replied, slowly wrapping his fingers around the hilt of his off-hand weapon. "We weren't doing anything wrong, but now they drop in here and threaten to kill us over swords? They're just like Black Pirates, Fina. Besides, what can they possibly do to us unarmed?"

Fina hesitated a long while, then drew in a deep breath and relayed Vyse's message to the twins. They both raised their eyebrows in mild surprise and murmured between each other, but what next happened nearly blew him away. Turning to him, they began to speak in Meridian.

"Foreigner..." Jao began.

"...you will die," Mao finished.

The twins nodded to their crew and the masked men retreated back onto their boats, detaching them from the _Delphinus_ and pulling back a ways. Vyse could see them gather on the deck to watch. In a flash, the two leapt down and then were upon Vyse, and he scrambled to put some room between himself and the twins. Mao broke off as Aika attacked him, but Jao was a whirlwind of fists and feet, kicking and punching at Vyse in a flurry he could only struggle to block with his cutlasses. When at last he found an opening, he swung at Jao's exposed shoulder but instead Jao caught his arm and twisted hard, and Vyse cried out in pain as he hit the ground, dropping his weapons.

But Jao was hardly done with him. He picked Vyse up and flung him over his shoulder, and the rogue crashed into the door leading back into the _Delphinus_ with a muffled cry. He rolled away just in time as the Yafutoman man threw a volley of what appeared to be needles at him, feeling them whisk past his ear and embed themselves in the hardened steel. He scrambled for his cutlasses but Mao brought a foot down and held the blade fast, leaving his brother to kick Vyse in the side and send him into the railing. Vyse grit his teeth and tried to pull himself back up, but Jao planted his hand square in the back of his head, sending him slamming down into the _Delphinus_' hard steel deck.

The rogue's head rang raucously and he struggled to hold on to his consciousness. A blast of cold air suddenly rushed past him and then Jao was gone, leaving him to lay there helplessly to try and decipher the battle through blurred vision. Vyse realized that Fina had come to his aid with ice magic, but Jao had turned on her and backed her into a corner. He hadn't seen what the fighter had done to her, but she weakly picked herself up off the ground, clutching a bleeding wound on the side of her head. In a flash of gold and black Enrique was there to shield her, and he landed a telling blow to Jao's side before the man caught his rapier in his bare hands and cast it aside. Enrique nimbly dodged the fists flung at him in retaliation, rolling behind Jao and blasting him with a jolt of thunder magic. Mao had taken that time to come up behind the prince in turn, however, swinging his leg around in a roundhouse kick that caught Enrique in the stomach and sent him breathlessly crumpling to the ground.

Vyse drug himself to his cutlasses as the twins turned on the girls. Aika aimed a kick at Mao's groin but he caught her leg and threw her to the ground. She rolled onto her back and swung her legs around, kicking his feet from under him, but he twisted enough to somehow land on his hands and spring backwards with them. That proved to be a bad idea, as he was caught in the side of the head with her boomerang the moment he returned to his feet. He dazedly dropped to his hands and knees, but before Aika could finish him, Jao grabbed her arm, pinned it behind her back, and gave it a cruel twist. Fina caught him in the side with a fireball and he reluctantly fell back, leaving Aika to crawl into a corner, cradling her limp arm and blinking back stinging tears.

Fina was now left alone with the twins, and magic was all she had and all she knew. She backed away fearfully, panic evident in her eyes, and as the twins lunge-kicked at her in unison, she cringed against the wall. A flash of white light suddenly flared up and the twins turned away at the last second, dodging a hail of liquid silver shards as they flew out in all directions. They bit viciously into the two, tearing into their clothes and unprotected arms, but they ripped the shards from their bodies and tossed them aside with relative impunity. The Silvite stared at them incredulously, but as they closed in once again a bolt of electricity shot straight through their bodies. Enrique had dragged himself to his feet again and stood warily, brandishing his rapier. Mao sprang at him, only to slam right into a barely tangeable barrier of green light.

_Turtling_... Vyse thought, wryly. _Just like Gregorio._

Snatching up his offhand cutlass at last, Vyse charged at the twins head-on. They whirled around and attacked as one, and Vyse narrowly avoided being side-swiped by Mao. Bringing up the cutlass in his offhand, he bashed the hilt into Jao's face and the fighter staggered back, his nose pouring blood. Mao tried to catch him in another roundhouse kick but Vyse agily ducked beneath his leg, returning with a kick to the side. He tried to redouble his efforts but Vyse struck him again, bludgeoning him across the face with the dull edge of his cutlass. Jao returned and he spun around on the ball of one foot, taking an arcing swipe with his cutlass and cutting deep into Jao's shoulder. Jao returned with a blow to the jaw but Vyse ignored it as best he could and struck again, landing a hit to the opposite shoulder as well.

He saw Mao's shadow come up behind him and ducked just in time to send the fighter sailing over his head. Immediately he sprang up and elbowed the man in the stomach as hard as he could, and Mao stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over himself. With a furious cry, Vyse kicked him square in the chest and he nearly toppled over the railing of the _Delphinus_.

Mao tried to get up, but Vyse brought a cutlass down and pressed it firmly against his neck, causing him to freeze. Behind him, Jao, too, froze in place, finding the point of a rapier in his back as he moved to aid his twin brother.

"No moving," Vyse said, panting. "Or I'll finish what we started."

Mao glared up at him. There came some upset murmuring from the decks of the two foreign ships.

"Westerners..."

"...we underestimated you."

"Lift your blade..."

"...and finish this with honor."

Vyse frowned. "Where I come from, killing is anything but honorable. I only do it when it comes down to the safety of myself and my crew. Now I've got enough seasoned people on this boat to match your crew and thensome, so if you'd like to try again go ahead -- but I can't guarantee they'll fight clean. Otherwise, turn around slowly and get off my ship. If I see you guys sailing near us again, I'll shoot you down. That's a promise."

Jao said something to his brother in Yafutoman. The two conversed for a little bit before lifting their hands apprehensively and slowly standing. Vyse and Enrique kept their blades leveled at them, but to their horror the twins took a few steps back and then leapt off the edge of the _Delphinus._

The rogue and the prince exchanged incredulous glances, then ran and leaned over the railing. In a rush of air the flagship suddenly floated up beside them from below, leveling itself with the deck of the _Delphinus. _There, sitting on the edge of the ship, were Jao and Mao.

"We are the Tenkou..." Jao said.

"...and we rule the skies of Yafutoma unopposed," Mao finished.

"We will report this..."

"...to our commander."

"This is not the last time..."

"...we shall meet."

And then they pulled away, climbing impossibly high, impossibly fast, into the clouds above. Vyse watched in a stupor as the three ships vanished into the white mist, gone, at last, for good.

* * *

Fina had her hands full the rest of the day tending to their various wounds, particularly Aika's broken arm. Vyse and Enrique only allowed the worst of their wounds to be healed, instead opting to sit out atop the lookout tower and ponder all that had just happened. Neither particularly liked the idea that if the Tenkou really did return, they'd have more than an on-deck brawl on their hands. As it was they had been beaten pretty soundly with a style of fighting neither of them had seen before. How could these people sail so high and so fast? How could they use their bodies as such lethal weapons? More importantly, how could the two of them counter it?

"I've never had to fight for my life before," Enrique said quietly, tucking his knees up to his chest. "I used to fence competitively back home...the only person who could ever beat me was Ramirez. But the worst injuries I ever received from that were a few welts on the arms and legs. I've never felt pain. I've never drawn blood. That soldier in Valua was the first man I've ever killed, and as it is that makes it hard to sleep at night."

"Heh." Vyse pulled his goggle off of his head and rubbed at his face tiredly. "I killed my first person when I was Marco's age. He was a Valuan soldier, on a ship my dad hadn't expected to encounter while we were out sailing. It was as simple as him attacking me and me defending myself, as my dad had taught me to do. But when we got home I was so frustrated and angry. I thought I was a murderer."

"How did you cope?" Enrique asked.

"My dad was there to instill confidence in me," Vyse replied. "A year before, we had been out sailing when we saw a Valuan ship in distress. We boarded the ship to try and rescue people, but the captain and all the crew were already dead. Aika ran into this girl our age – I assume it was the captain's daughter or something – and the girl suddenly attacked her with throwing knives. I dove in the way just in time to knock Aika back, but one of the knives hit me right here and that's why I have this scar." He rubbed the scar absently, then shrugged. "My dad reminded me that that girl would have killed me if I didn't fight back. He told me sometimes even Blue Rogues have to kill people – but in that case we do it in a fair fight, and we shoulder the responsibility for each life we take."

"I just...I want to be useful to you and your crew. I want to help you protect the others." Enrique sighed. "...But I really don't know what I'm doing. I was scared to death back there."

"We'll work on that." Vyse grinned a little, then sighed. "Really, you and Fina are a lot alike, being so sheltered and all. I figured she could take care of herself with magic, but she's never killed anyone before either. She's too scared to use magic to hurt people. To _really_ hurt people. Usually she just puts them to sleep."

"But we can't do that with these Tenkou," Enrique concluded. "I don't know what kind of people they are, but they can break bones with their bare hands! How do they defend themselves like that?"

"They've got a lot of advantages over us," Vyse replied. "I get the feeling that if we're going to survive in this strange land, we're going to have to learn from the people here."

"I'm willing to do whatever it takes." Enrique's face was set hard in determination. "The sooner we find their capital, the better."

Vyse nodded. "Exactly. No more surprises. I won't let us get hurt like this ever again."

* * *

In the next passing week, the _Delphinus_ passed by several more small islands. There were literally hundreds of them, more than Vyse could count. All of them were fairly small, however, and Fina assured him that they were not what they were looking for.

In time, they began to share the ocean with other boats. They were similar in structure to the ones the Tenkou sailed, but far less decorative. Vyse observed that they often floated on the water for long periods of time before lifting into the air and sailing off with laden fishing nets, and he realized that Yafutoman life probably focused heavily upon their abundant water resources. All of the ships kept their distance from the _Delphinus_, however, so Vyse kept his distance in turn. The Blue Moon was bright above them by then, and it occasionally sprayed them with gentle rain showers as they traveled, but for the most part it was temperate and pleasant.

Then, one day, something rose up out of the ocean on the northern horizon. It looked like an enormous white serpent, winding its way east and west as far as the eye could see. As they drew closer Vyse realized that it was a massive wall, built with white bricks and blue moonstones and crowned in bright red tiles. There were barracks and watchtowers at regular intervals, but they were all in disrepair and some sections of the wall had actually crumbled away into the water. The structure was obviously ancient, and had been long abandoned by whoever had originally built it.

"Fina...what's that?" he asked.

"That's the Great Wall," she replied, smiling. "When war broke out in the Old World, it was built as a defense structure by the Blue Civilization to protect their capital. Each of those watch towers housed beacons that, when activated, would generate an enormous shield around the inner islands. The wall is so large that we can see it from the Great Silver Shrine – it literally goes on for hundreds of miles and rings the northern continent."

"That's incredible!" He gawked. "Now THIS is why I love exploring!"

"The Old World is really neat." Aika smiled, gazing out the window and watching the wall as they began to pass it. "I wish they hadn't...y'know...blown themselves up. I bet this wall was beautiful when it was still in one piece."

Fina nodded, though her eyes looked sad. "The good news is, this means we are very close to Yakaido. We should reach it in another three days of sailing."

"Yakaido? That's the capital?" Vyse asked.

"Indeed. We should be on a straight course for it." Fina smiled. "It's very easy from here."

And she was right. On the dawn of the third day, a huge island finally came into view. It was grassy and mountainous, dappled all over in trees that bloomed with beautiful pink flowers. Looming up in the distance somewhere behind it was an enormous blue mountain so tall its snow-dusted peak vanished into the clouds, forming a picturesque backdrop for the enormous city sprawling along the southern bank. It actually rested on three separate islands; the first was the main island itself, but above it floated two other, smaller islands, from which cascaded dramatic waterfalls down into the harbor below. Vyse wasn't sure how such a thing was possible but it took his breath away.

Zooming in on the harbor, he found that the houses and buildings on the shore were simple, light structures, made out of a reedy looking wood and something that almost looked like paper. Some were carved out of gleaming white stone similar to that used in the Great Wall, with red tiled roofs and small, round windows. Red paper lanterns were strung between many of them, lighting the wooden docks and walkways that navigated over the water and formed narrow streets. Vyse realized that much of the city actually floated _on_ the water, and he marveled at it just that much more.

As the _Delphinus_ drew near to the harbor, people came out onto the decks of their boats and stared at them. Already Vyse could see a huge crowd gathering on the docks, watching as the unfamiliar silver ship slowly churned towards them. Carefully, he dropped altitude until the _Delphinus_ was gliding through the water instead, then cut the power and drifted up to the pier. As she finally came to a stop, guards in armor that looked like scales poured onto the dock, brandishing long, spear-like weapons as they approached the ship warily.

"Leave your weapons here," Vyse commanded. "We need to show them that we mean no harm. If they try to capture us, let them capture us; we'll be able to talk our way out of it later."

Quietly, the four of them left the bridge and went out onto the deck, followed by the crew. As they emerged there came startled murmurs from the crowd and Vyse began to feel uneasy with so many eyes on him. Slowly, two guards came up to meet them on deck and Fina bowed low to them, beginning to speak in Yafutoman. They listened to her intently, asked a few questions, then sent what looked to be a messenger back into the city.

"They say they've heard rumors of an Iron Ship sailing up from the south," she said. "Apparently, the Emperor was interested in these stories and wanted to know if the ship turned up near Yakaido. They just sent a messenger off to tell him that we're here, but we're not allowed to leave until the messenger returns."

"Fair enough. We've come this far already...I guess I can stand to wait a little longer." Vyse grinned.

It was a good hour or so before the messenger returned, and he carried with him a small parchment with a seal on it. The guard captain read it over and nodded, turning to approach Fina and speak with her again. She looked a little surprised, but bowed once more to the man and returned to relay everything she had been told.

"Well, uhm...I wasn't expecting this. It seems the Emperor himself wishes to meet us."

"What?" Vyse asked, eyes wide.

"That's what he said. The four of us are to follow these guards to the Imperial Palace and hold an audience with him immediately."

"Oh, uh...wow...okay." Vyse blinked. "Geez, between Enrique, Temahalan and this guy, we sure have been dealing with a lot of royalty."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Enrique asked, although it was clear it was in jest.

Fina nodded to the guard captain and he turned, beckoning for them to follow. Together with the messenger they began to walk off the docks and into the city, and the guards were forced to push back the massive crowd that had gathered in order to make room for them. Similar crowds lined the streets as they began to work their way up to the palace which, Vyse realized, was probably on the highest island.

"Yafutomans are very strict about manners and tradition," Fina began to quickly explain as they walked along. She looked incredibly nervous. "In many ways their culture and Silvite culture are a lot of like...I believe we shared close relationships with each other in the Old World. S-so when we meet the Emperor, we need to be on our absolute best behavior. If we offend him, it could get us in a lot of trouble."

"Sounds familiar..." Enrique murmured.

"When he stands, we stand. When he sits, we wait until he tells us to sit. When we greet him, we bow. When he bows, we bow lower." Fina blushed. "I-I know it's a lot to ask and it's probably not something any of you are accustomed to, but please...try your best. I don't know where the Blue Crystal is; Silvite records say it's been lost. He may be the only link we have."

"Don't worry. I'll be good." Aika grinned impishly. Vyse elbowed her and she became sheepish instead.

The houses steadily became more elaborate as they scaled the island chain. Vyse found them to be bordered in beautiful wood decorations, with sweeping roofs that flared out in the corners. Everything was very neat and tidy and just-so, a vast contrast from the crowded and cluttered Madera. He could tell Enrique was making comparisons as well, pale eyes darting around to try and drink in as much as they could.

The Imperial Palace was a wonder to behold. Whereas the palace at Madera had been a dominating structure of dark stone and bright lights, the home of Yafutoma's royal family was nearly the polar opposite. It was a beautiful, airy, multi-tiered building with sweeping rooftops, large windows, and intricately carved decorations. A huge garden took up the courtyard, filled with white sand, exotic plants and a pond in which turtles and long-finned spotted fish swam. From the heart of the palace rose an enormous tiered tower with multiple eaves, easily fifteen stories tall and crowned with a golden spire that thrust into the sky. It was to this tower that they were taken, past people with neatly done up hair and robes made entirely out of a smooth, soft, shiny fabric he had never seen before.

If the exterior of the palace was cause for admiration, however, the interior was even more so. The floor was solid marble, polished enough to reflect the colorful tiles that made up the ceiling. The walls were painted in swirling designs to look like wind and water, and long serpentine dragons were everywhere, forming borders around the room and winding between painted clouds. Solid gold decorated everything, forming leafing on the walls and dragon-head reliefs in the corners and on the pillars of the room. Magnificent tapestries were hung everywhere, some sporting a bold, squiggly text he could not even begin to fathom and others depicting a magnificent crested bird with a long spread of tailfeathers in flight. In the back of the room, upon a raised platform, surrounded by jade statues of graceful birds and fierce dragons, sat an ornate golden throne and a luxurious pile of plush velvet pillows. It was here that the emperor and a younger woman, sat.

The emperor was a wizened old man, with a wrinkled face and intelligent, calculating eyes. His graying hair fell over his shoulders and he grew a similarly long beard, thin and slender as opposed to the thick, bushy one Drachma once had. He was swathed in layers of brightly colored robes, all made out of the same shiny fabric Vyse had seen before, and was crowned with an ornate headdress.

Beside him, his daughter looked like a porcelain figurine. She was paler than both Fina and Enrique, and long, thick black hair fell down past her waist in a stunning contrast. Her facial features were soft, her eyes narrow and almond-shaped, and she had somehow attached a red gem to the center of her forehead without anything to hold it in place. Her robes swallowed her petite form in waves of blue and white, and a gossamer shawl was wrapped around her shoulders to accent it. As she stood, Vyse realized that she might have actually been shorter than Fina.

The Emperor stood as they approached and swept his powerful gaze over them. Fina bowed and, taking cue from her, Vyse and the others awkwardly did the same, and the Emperor and his daughter bowed slightly to them in turn. Vyse tried to stand as straight and neat as he could, but his hair and clothes were a mess from weeks on the sea and he knew he looked just as out of place as he felt. He could hear the amusement in the Emperor's voice as he spoke to Fina, and Fina began to translate back and forth as quickly as she could.

"They say you come from the Land Where the Sun Sets. Let me be the first, then, to welcome you to Yafutoma. I am Lord Mikado, and this is my daughter, Moegi."

Fina introduced the four of them in turn, carefully avoiding the fact that they were air pirates. Instead she put focus on who Enrique was, and placed emphasis on the fact that they came to Yafutoma for purely diplomatic reasons.

"Will not the Prince speak, then?" Lord Mikado asked, arching a brow.

"Forgive us, Lord Mikado, but I am the only one here who understands your language," Fina replied. "I am sorry if I am not of enough station to speak with you, but please let me speak on behalf of the Prince."

"Very well." Mikado sat back in his throne, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "You claim to come to Yafutoma in the name of peace. But why have you come? Westerners have not set foot on our land since the days of the Old World. Many believe that there simply _is_ no land to the West."

"My Lord, if I may speak?"

Two men suddenly came into the room, dressed in orange and black robes and wearing strange tall hats that Vyse had never seen before. The older of the two had a long beard similar to Lord Mikado's, but the younger seemed to have difficulty growing much of anything aside from fuzz on his face. They both had skinny, lanky bodies from what he could see, and given their long, pointed facial features Vyse found himself reminded of a rat.

"Yes, Kangan?" Mikado asked.

"My Lord spoke of the days of the Old World in regards to foreigners on our soil, and it simply got me thinking," Kangan said. "Those foreigners only caused problems for our ancestors. As your advisor, I would like to recommend that perhaps these four be removed from Yafutoma at once."

Vyse's eyebrow twitched irritably as Fina translated that bit for them in a hushed voice. Who was this guy to make such a suggestion?

But Lord Mikado simply chuckled, shaking his head. "Nonsense, Kangan. There is much we can teach these people. And, I suspect, there is much we can learn from them as well. Had they come here with the intent to harm us, _Aoikaze_ would have blown them away."

"What's owwie-kahzay?" Aika whispered.

"Aoikaze translates into 'Blue Winds,'" Fina explained. "It is what the Blue Civilization used to call their Gigas."

"Does that mean their Gigas is awake and roaming freely?" Enrique asked, blinking.

"I don't believe so. It seems to me like it's more of a Yafutoman superstition," Fina replied.

"I agree with my father," the younger of the two men in black suddenly piped up. "Study of ancient manuscripts have shown that foreigners only bring disaster! We cannot allow them into Yafutoma!"

"I understand your concern, Muraji, but this is a new dawn and a new age. I would like to believe that we will not repeat the mistakes of our ancestors. My decision is final." Mikado paused then, and looked over at Moegi. "Besides, I doubt my daughter would forgive me if I sent them away. You've always been fascinated by tales of the West, haven't you my dear?"

Moegi hesitated, then simply nodded bashfully. When she spoke, it was in a very quiet voice. "I would like very much to hear of your travels and your homeland."

"Now then...Kangan, Muraji, you are dismissed. I have important business I must discuss with these four and would prefer not to be interrupted." Mikado gave them a curt nod, and the two reluctantly bowed and left the way they came. When they were gone, Mikado turned back and looked at Fina expectantly. "Again, I ask of you: why have you come?"

"Valua is having...problems," Fina said at last, clasping her hands over her chest. "There are some people in Valua, enemies of ours, who are searching the world looking for the ancient Moon Crystals. They wish to use these crystals to gain domination over the world, and we aim to gather and destroy the crystals before that happens. I fear Yafutoma is not safe and it is only a matter of time before they come here searching for your crystal as well. They will demand loyalty and cooperation from you and will probably attack your people if you do not comply. Therefore, we humbly request that we be allowed access to your Moon Crystal, so that we may remove it from here and therefore draw the ire of our enemies elsewhere."

Mikado's expression did not change at all as he listened to her, but Vyse could see the gears turning in the Emperor's head. Moegi looked a mixture of shocked and intrigued, and Vyse realized she was watching Enrique through her eyelashes.

"That is...a rather fantastic story," Mikado said at last, stroking his beard in thought. "However, I do not doubt your words. Many ancient scriptures speak of a blue orb called the Maga Sphere, which I believe is what you are calling a 'Moon Crystal'. The Maga Sphere was the symbol of royal succession in the days of old, until it was lost in the bowels of Mount Kazai. A replica was made to be used in coronations in its place, but they say it is nothing like the original. If you could somehow retrieve the Maga Sphere for us..."

"Done," Vyse said. "If he knows where it is, then tell him we'll go get it, no matter what."

Fina smiled a little and did so.

"If you succeed, I will let you keep the Maga Sphere, on several conditions," Mikado said. "First, it must stay within the palace until you leave. Second, you must not destroy it with the other Moon Crystals. Third, I wish it returned to us when my daughter one day weds, so that we may use it in a true coronation. You will sign a declaration agreeing to such, and should you break your end of the bargain, your life will be forfeit."

"We would never break our word to you, Lord Mikado." Fina bowed. "You are most gracious. Thank you for aiding us in our plight."

To that the Emperor gave a kind smile, his wrinkles bunching up around his eyes merrily. "As I told my advisor, my people have learned from the mistakes of the past. We must share our knowledge and our power with each other, so that all may learn and grow. Travelers from the West, I would like you to stay in the palace as royal guests so that we may share cultures with each other. When the time is right, I will have a ship sail you up to Mount Kazai and and we will remove the Maga Sphere from the grasp of your enemies."


	25. Deep Blue

Everything in Yafutoma was as unusual to Vyse as it was amazing. He was startled to find that _everyone_ had black hair, brown eyes and pale skin, whereas in Valua and Meridia people differed a lot more, and people in Nasr grew darker the further south one went. It was more like Ixa'Taka in that sense, he supposed, with styles differing between clans rather than individual people. Aika's hair in particular was cause for much speculation among the Yafutoman people, who thought she ate gratuitous amounts of orange vegetables to turn it that color.

They were each given a guest room to sleep in and Yafutoman clothes to wear. Vyse found that his bed was little more than a mattress on the floor and while at first he was dubious about it, he found it to be quite comfortable. Equally as comfortable were the clothes he was given; he wasn't sure what they were, really, but they looked to be a blue robe-like shirt and wide, loose-fitting black pants. He decided to wear them in place of his sailing clothes for the time being, but left his eye patch on.

He was not surprised at all to see that the others had been given a change in clothing as well. Enrique was swathed in long black and gold robes similar to Lord Mikado's, and he attempted to wear his beret with it until Aika determined it a fashion disaster and snatched it off his head. Aika herself was clothed in a red dress that Fina called a qi-pao, close-fitting with a long slit up one side. It wrapped around her and was decorated all over with a rose pattern sewn in with shimmering thread.

But it was Fina's outfit that really stunned Vyse. She wore a sweeping, shoulderless robe in sky blue tied at the waist with a large golden sash. The sleeves of the robe were long and almost flowed seamlessly into the skirt, which brushed around at her feet. It was decorated with a dragon swimming through the clouds, wrapping its way all around her. She smiled shyly as she caught him staring at her and he quickly turned away.

Like Nasreans, Yafutomans sat on the ground to eat. Yafutoman food ranged from cloudy soups to all kinds of noodles to gingered meat, raw fish and plenty of rice. They drank their loqua warm and, as Enrique had described to them, ate not with knives and forks, but with two sticks carefully pinched between the fingers. Enrique himself picked up the art of stick-eating rather quickly and Fina didn't have any problem with it at all, but Vyse and Aika eventually gave up, grasped a stick in each hand and scooped their food up that way.

The next several days were spent in such a manner, learning and discovering Yafutoman culture. Enrique was curious about Yafutoman writing so Fina attempted to teach some of the language to the three of them, explaining that each symbol meant a word or a group of letters, and that they were read top to bottom instead of left to right. It was difficult to memorize, however, and only Enrique stuck with the learning, often trying to hold small conversations with Moegi. To their surprise, she knew some basic Valuan, but she refused to explain how she learned it. Nevertheless, the two spent much time together after that, having simple conversations in a mixture of Valuan and Yafutoman in the garden.

Aika noticed many children in Yafutoma flew small paper craft attached to a string in the sky and wondered what they were. Fina explained that they were called kites and that flying them was a popular form of entertainment. When Aika saw that some of the kids were making a game of knocking their friends' kites out of the sky with their own, she made one for herself and joined in.

There were other forms of entertainment as well, from plays to puppets to a beautiful, fluid dancing that Aika and Fina tried to learn, but what really intrigued Vyse were Yafutoma's soldiers. They were not heavily armored like Valuan men and they were not sharpshooters like the Nasrean guards; instead they wore only what they needed to protect themselves and wielded their swords as if they were an extension of their own bodies. As Vyse watched them do practice drills outside their barracks, he realized just how different their style of swordfighting was from that of the West. Whereas Western fighting was often composed of furious slashing, powerful blows or quick, precise stabs, the Yafutomans swung their blades in long, fluid, sweeping arcs -- it was more like a dance than actual swordplay.

"They're called samurai," came a soft voice from beside him. He turned to see Fina walking towards him, smiling. "And they live and die by the sword."

Vyse slid off the fence he was sitting on and grinned a little. "They're so different from the Valuans..."

"In a way." She canted her head thoughtfully, gazing out at the warriors. "You could compare them somewhat to the Valuan knights from a few centuries ago. They are bound by a strict code of honor and they live by that no matter what. Because of this, they command much respect in Yafutoman society."

"And here I thought chivalry was dead." He laughed a little, leaning against the fence, and beckoned her over to join him. "Do you think I could learn how to fight like them?"

"I think you could do anything if you tried." Her smile was warm. "You've already accomplished so much. I've told the Elders a lot about you."

"The Elders? _Your_ elders? Silvite Elders?" He blinked. "Why?"

"Because I want them to know that I haven't been doing this by myself." She reached into her robe and pulled out the strange device he had seen her handling in Ixa'Taka, turning it over and over in her hands. "I think part of the reason why Ramirez changed so much is because he was cut off completely from our homeland. So I try to stay in contact with my people as much as I can, and I tell them of our adventures and our progress."

"And what do they think about us?" Vyse asked.

"I-I don't know, really. They call everyone who lives down here the Island-Dwellers, but they don't speak often of the Island-Dwellers." She frowned a little then, clasping the device to her chest. "They're growing a little impatient, though. I asked Lord Mikado that we put our cultural relations on hold until we're able to get the Blue Crystal."

"So that means...?"

"It means we'll leave tomorrow for Mount Kazai. I-if that's okay."

He laughed a little. "Of course it's okay. Fina, the moon crystals are why we're here! We're doing this for _you_. This cultural stuff is just a really neat bonus."

"Do you mean it?" She beamed, watching him hopefully.

"Of course I do. I'd never lie to you," he replied.

"Thank you, Vyse. I owe so much to you." She hesitated, then stepped forward and gave him a small hug.

"Hey...if anyone owes anyone anything, it's me owing you." He hugged her back. "If it weren't for you, I never would have been able to do all this. Everything I've ever dreamed of is in my grasp! So let's not stop now. We've still got a whole world to see, and many things to accomplish together. Tomorrow we'll make quick work of that mountain and we'll be out of here before Valua even realizes we were gone from Esparanza."

A gentle breeze picked up from the north, tousling the trees and sending flower pedals gently drifting down around them. Vyse's eyes met hers and he fell silent, suddenly at a loss for words.

"It's very beautiful here, isn't it?" she asked quietly, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, it is," he replied, distractedly.

"Oh! But don't let me keep you." Fina smiled, tucking the device away. "You were planning on studying with the samurai, right?"

"Nah...That's okay." Vyse offered a hand to her, and she blinked at it quizzically. "I'd rather go on a walk with you instead. The sun's almost set, so now's the perfect time to enjoy the scenery."

"Oh!" Fina was surprised, but she quickly slipped her hand in his. "I would like that...very much."

* * *

Both Vyse and Lord Mikado knew that a Western ship could never reach the summit of Mount Kazai, so instead the four of them were assigned an escort from Yakaido to take them up instead. A woman named Kirala was their guide, and she reminded Vyse a lot of Aika in the way she acted and dressed. She was more than happy to take them on board her ship, and brought with her several coils of rope, some construction tools, and an armful of stones for reasons Vyse couldn't even begin to guess. She spent most of the three-hour trip talking to Fina, and more often than not the Silvite couldn't get a word into the conversation edgewise. Vyse heard the Yafutoman name for their ship, _Derufinusu_, come up often.

Mount Kazai emerged from the water majestically, almost perfectly conical in shape and dusted lightly at its peak with a white powdery substance that Vyse couldn't identify. The peak of the mountain was actually a deep bowl, and it was filled with water so still that it looked like glass. A small shrine-like mound rose up in the center of the water, and it was here that Kirala landed and moored the ship. Though it was clearly manmade, the shrine was the only apparent way into and out of the mountain.

As Vyse stepped off the small boat, he took a look around. Though the towering walls of the bowl cut off his view of the land below, he knew they were dizzyingly high and felt the pressure in his body. The wind was cold up here, and he shivered a little, already beginning to dread the fact that they were probably going to have to get wet at some point. He wasn't sure what laid in the caverns below them, but he fervently hoped they were warmer.

As he turned, however, he caught sight of an enormous relief in the wall and had to do a double take. It was a work of art larger than the _Delphinus_ by a considerable degree, carved from the mountainside in the likeness of the birds decorating Lord Mikado's throneroom. Vyse zoomed his goggle in on it and studied it for a time, but it lacked any real detail and appeared to be weathered with age.

"Oh...it's Aoikaze." Fina blinked, clasping her hands over her chest. "I guess we're in the right place after all."

"What? That's the Gigas?" Aika asked.

Fina nodded. "In the days of the Old World, this mountain used to be a volcano, a fiery mountain filled with lava. My people subdued the Gigas – who they called Bluheim – by trapping it in the lava and encasing it in stone."

"Here's hoping it stays that way." Enrique was wry. "The Gigas you have faced thusfar haven't been able to fly. I would hate to see what this one is capable of."

They were all startled out of their conversation as Kirala hefted a large bag of equipment out of the boat and dropped it in front of them. She put her hands on her hips expectantly and beamed, but as they stooped to rifle through it, all they found were strange things they couldn't identify. Vyse looked over to Fina, but she looked equally confused.

"What is this stuff?" he asked.

Fina repeated his question to Kirala, who blinked in surprise.

"What do you mean, 'what is it?'" She asked through Fina. "It's diving gear. Mount Kazai is almost completely flooded."

Aika stared at her in horror.

"Relax," Kirala said, holding up a piece of the equipment. "See this stuff? It helps you swim deeper than any normal person can."

"Oh, sure." Aika facefaulted. "There's just the tiny issue of being able to _breathe_!"

Fina translated that for her. Kirala only laughed.

"Blue moonstones have the power of both water and air. Using Blue Magic, you can breathe water just as you would air. I thought everybody knew that."

Vyse, Aika and Enrique stared at her incredulously, causing her to laugh again.

"Here, look, I'll show you." She reached into the bag and pulled out what looked to be a long suit made of a few layers of fabric. "Our pearl divers use these suits to stay warm in deep water. We gather fragments of red moonstone that turn up near the Dark Rift and sew them in between layers of cloth. You'll still get wet, obviously, and the suit is kind of heavy, but the moonstone shards will keep you warm."

Kirala then knelt and picked up a thick looking belt. It had pockets in it clutching dense stones. "This belt will help you sink so you can dive faster. Although you all look really skinny. Maybe we should use cannonballs instead." She grinned. "Finally, there's goggles. They help you see underwater. Then you just cast the spell and bam! Good to go!"

"Heh. Neat!" Vyse studied the equipment momentarily. "How do we know if the spell is working? Can you ask her?"

Fina did so.

"You'd never notice." Kirala shrugged. "It makes it so breathing water is just like breathing air. The scary part is inhaling underwater for the first time. You expect liquid to fill your lungs but it doesn't. You have to convince your body that it's okay to do, because it's going to try to force you to hold your breath. Just relax, and let the moonstones do everything for you."

"You're positive you can't drown?" Aika demanded.

"Positive." Kirala replied.

"Huh. Okay, well..." Vyse stood. "Let's take turns changing in the boat. When we're ready, we'll go down there and start looking around."

When they were all changed, Vyse went over to the doorway cut into the shrine and peered down. A long shaft lined with blue moonstone reliefs cut through the water below him, descending into darkness. From what he could see, the shaft wasn't flooded, but he wasn't sure how far down it went either.

Kirala set about building a pulley for them which she rigged from her ship. Using the coils of rope she had brought, she cast one end down into the blackened pit so that she could pull them up and lower them down when they were ready to leave. She explained that the shaft was well over fifty feet deep and that it opened into a chamber connecting into dozens of underwater caverns. She said that nobody had ever found the Maga Sphere because they had gotten lost and drowned in the confusing network of tunnels.

"The spell doesn't last forever," Fina said quietly, trying to adjust her goggles so that they would no longer fall off her face. So far, she wasn't having much luck. "We'll only have a limited amount of time to work with, too...Maybe two hours. If we can find some dry land in the middle somewhere I'll be able to re-apply the spell, but otherwise we'll be in...in a lot of trouble."

"Alright, well...we'll just have to move as fast as we can and treat this like the Dark Rift. We need to pay close attention to where we are and where we're going." Vyse nodded to Kirala. "I'm ready to go down, if she's done with the ropes."

With the ropes secure, the four of them carefully slid down into the shaft, watching as the square of light above them steadily became smaller and smaller. The moonstone reliefs in the wall glowed softly, however, providing a dim sort of blue ambiance that was just enough to see by. At the bottom their bare feet touched solid stone, and they found themselves in a brightly-lit manmade chamber which Vyse could only assume was constructed by the Blue Civilization. Though the chamber was in tact, there was a lot of rubble littering the floor from statues that had long crumbled away, and they had to carefully pick their way around it. The only thing really of note left standing was an altar in the center of the floor, with a teardrop-shaped indent carved into it. At the far end of the room was a small, rectangular pool and nothing else – no doors, no passageways that they could see. Peering into it, however, Vyse realized that it was much deeper than it looked – a flooded shaft plunging deeper into the mountain.

Fina went around, tying a blue moonstone pendant close around each of their necks. The stones were roughly coin-sized and were left in their natural state, and Vyse stared momentarily at the mesmerizing azure glow they pulsated with.

"I'm going to cast the spell now," she said. "The sages in the palace taught it to me just before we left, so, uhm...this will be my first time attempting it."

"I...trust you..." Aika said, although she sounded wary and looked on the verge of panic. "Do me first, ok? Then you guys can pull me out if I sink."

"Don't worry. It will effect all of us." Fina clasped her hands together out in front of her and began to murmur an incantation in Yafutoman. Blue light began to lazily spin about her feet, and soon it spread to her companions. Vyse watched as the light spiraled up his legs, wrapped around his waist and then seeped into his chest, and it felt as though he was growing heavier. Finally Fina's words faded away and so too did the light, unwrapping itself from their bodies and dimming into nothingness.

"So, erm...who wants to go first?" Enrique's eyes darted around the room, and an uneasy silence fell over the four of them.

"I'll do it." Vyse stepped forward, grabbed the edge and then hopped into the water. It was freezing cold on contact, but suddenly the tiny fragments of red moonstone in his suit flared up and a subtle warmth flooded his body until it was comfortable for him to tread water.

"Vyse..." Fina leaned over the edge and peered at him worriedly. "This spell may enable us to breathe, but we still won't be able to talk underwater. Don't go too far ahead, okay?"

"Don't worry. I won't." And with that, Vyse let go of the edge and plunged in.

His belt caused him to sink faster than he anticipated, and he grabbed for a crack in the wall to hold on to. Realizing he was still holding his breath, Vyse slowly released it, forcing himself to put faith in Fina's magic.

_Breathe._

He tried to pull a breath in but couldn't bring himself to do so. It went against all logic, and the the back of his mind screamed at him for such a foolhardy notion.

_Breathe!_

Already he could feel the burning in his empty lungs. His heart began to pound a bit faster as his body began to feel the lack of fresh air. His mind told him to panic and scramble towards the surface, but he pushed away such thoughts and steeled himself.

_Okay. One...Two..._

Vyse's chest felt like it was going to explode. Suddenly he drew in a deep gasp and blinked when nothing happened. As Kirala had said, it felt like he was breathing normal air, and he looked up to see the blurry shape of Fina hovering anxiously still on the edge of the pool. He gave her a thumbs up and she visibly sighed in relief and vanished back into the room.

Vyse sat there alone for several minutes, and he began to wonder why the others hadn't joined him. Suddenly the forms of Enrique and Fina appeared above him and they tossed something into the water with a mighty splash. Vyse watched bewilderedly as a flailing Aika sank past him in a torrent of bubbles and realized that they probably had to force her into the water.

Whatever amusement they had over the situation, however, faded when they allowed themselves to sink as well and found Aika having a panic attack at the bottom. She jerked about wildly, her flailing hindered by the water, and Vyse and Enrique quickly paddled over to gently restrain her. Her cries came out as torrents of bubbles, and it looked like she was beginning to hyperventilate. It wasn't until Fina halfway knocked her asleep that she calmed down, and then the two girls stared at each other for a long time as if a wordless conversation passed between the two of them. Slowly, Aika lifted her head and looked around with wide eyes, and finally seemed to relax.

If the Blue Civilization had ever set foot where they were, one wouldn't have known. The cool blue stone slabs that made up the chambers above them gave way to an enormous lava cavern that was now covered in layers of craggy barnacles and colorful coral that had grown in over the centuries. Yellow-green light filtered down through the shaft above in long, blurry rays, and in it Vyse could see things move, from tiny specs of dust to minuscule fish. Aika extended her hand as she noticed a small, bright orange creature vaguely resembling a Dhabu coiled around some coral near her, and it wound its curly tail around her finger instead when she neared. She looked delighted.

For the most part, the cavern was relatively shallow. Vyse could see alabaster-hued sands below him but wasn't sure what he should be doing. Fina beckoned to them and then began to paddle off, and they slowly followed, leaving Aika's Sea-Dhabu behind. Though the going was slow, they startled many things out of their hiding places, and as they passed over the heart of the cavern there came a virtual explosion of thousands of long, tiny, skinny silver fish from the reef, which as one danced around them and then vanished into the strands of light high above.

On the other end of the cavern, three craggy lava vents branched off in different directions. Fina hesitated, looking back and forth between them, but was at a complete loss. She turned to look at her companions helplessly and they shrugged at her. Enrique gestured at the far left tunnel and shrugged again, and she nodded and began to swim down it.

The tunnel was more narrow than it looked and was hard to fit through In some places the barnacles grew so thick that they carefully had to squeeze by lest they cut themselves, and Aika looked on the verge of panic again. The farther they went down, the more Vyse could feel the pressure of the water building, and it almost felt like his ears would burst. Eventually the narrow tunnel opened up into another bubble cavern even larger than the last, and from which branched off splits and cracks and tunnels in all directions. Vyse began to feel a slight sense of vertigo, and wasn't sure which way was up or down anymore.

This cavern, he found, was a veritable forest of underwater plants. Long tendrils of kelp grew in dense clusters from floor to ceiling – or ceiling to floor for all he knew – swaying softly in the gentle current. Much of the coral was large and grew out in "finger" shapes, so that they almost looked like trees in the winter, bearing their naked branches towards the sky. Blooming around them in bursts of color were anemones and other creatures and plants that looked like wispy flowers. A handful of different striped fish slipped their way between them, always managing to just wriggle out of their grasp, only to be snapped up by glowing eels or bigger fish looking for a meal.

As they swam along, a small school of large, flat yellow fish came up and began to nibble at their toes. Vyse tried to laugh at the odd tickling sensation but his voice was choked away by the water. The fish moved up to their fingers and then their hair, and the four paused momentarily to watch the curious interlopers as their bizarre behavior persisted. Vyse could never recall hearing such a thing occur with flying fish, and couldn't wait to tell the crew about it later.

Fina finally had Cupil chase the fish off and they continued plumbing deeper into the cavern. Vyse realized that color was slowly fading from the world, until only blues and greens were left, and began to wonder why the brighter shades were disappearing. The monochrome world was as beautiful as it was eerie, and it set him off balance just that much more.

When they hit the bottom of the cavern, Fina paused again to look around. There were about a dozen openings in the walls and floor, hovering before them like the open, waiting maws of hungry serpents. All of them twisted off into blackness, and Vyse wished he had been able to wear his eye patch with his goggles in order to peer down them. Instead Fina sent Cupil off to check each of the tunnels, but it took a while and the rogue swore the "air" he was breathing was beginning to feel thinner already.

At last Cupil returned and bobbed around Fina briefly before shimmying down the largest tunnel before them. About halfway through all light vanished, and Enrique began to channel magic so that they could see.

The tunnel was a long and twisting descent into darkness. After a while Vyse lost track of how long they had been diving and gave up on swimming altogether, allowing himself to simply sink. Occasionally they drifted past darker patches in the wall that the magic light did not illuminate and he realized they were even _more_ tunnels snaking off into the mountain, like forks from a bolt of lightning. Behind him, Aika began to string bubbles together using the Blue Magic Fina taught her, forming a long chain that would serve to guide them back to the cavern entrance.

Somewhere along the way, Vyse's vertigo spread to the others -- or perhaps, he allowed himself to admit, they were genuinely lost. Either way as they came to the end of the tunnel they found themselves in a dead end, in a small, bland cavern with nothing but barnacles and algae in it. Its ceiling arced a few feet above the water and they exploded to the surface, coughing and gasping for real air. Cupil puffed himself up so that they could hang on to him and float, affording some rest.

"I-I'm sorry. I thought we were going the right way..." Fina frowned, brushing a string of pale hair from her face. "I must have gotten turned around and taken one of the side tunnels."

"It's okay. At least we can find our way back." Aika smiled a little.

"How are you feeling?" Enrique asked, watching the redhead with genuine concern. "I knew you couldn't swim, but I didn't know you had a phobia of water. Otherwise I wouldn't have thrown you in like that. I'm terribly sorry."

"Heh..." Aika peered down into the water, lazily swinging her feet to and fro. "When I was really little, I fell into this well we had at home and nearly drowned. Vyse's dad saved me just in time, but I still remember the cold, dark waters suffocating me. I was so scared of the water from that day forth that I never learned how to swim. But then I realized that I wasn't going to drown in here and...and I guess it's okay."

"How far down does this place go, anyway?" Vyse asked, beginning to feel his fatigue catching up with him. "I feel like we've been going down forever. I've never swam this long in my life."

"I wish I knew..." Fina replied, sighing quietly. "As Kirala said, nobody who's gone diving in here has made it out alive. There's no maps of this place, no directions. We may very well have to swim _under_ the mountain to find the crystal. It's just as lost as we are."

Enrique frowned thoughtfully, slicking his golden hair back and out of his face. "Alright...say we backtrack. What would we do differently? Where would we go?"

"Well, uhm..." Fina thought for a moment. "When Mount Kazai was still a live volcano it only had one tunnel, an artery that went straight to its heart and allowed lava to flow. But the mountain was artificially flooded by my people to cool the lava and seal Bluheim in, and because it was forced to cool so rapidly, all kinds of splits and fractures formed in the mountain...which are the tunnels we see now. But the main artery should still exist and it should be the largest of these tunnels. If we avoid all of the smaller ones it should take us straight to where we need to go."

Enrique nodded. "Then let's go back and take our time this time. While we're here we can renew the spell, so we won't have to worry about running out of air. We can't get turned around as long as Aika continues her bubble chain."

"Sounds good to me," Vyse replied. "I'm glad one of us always has a plan at least." He grinned. Enrique gave a small chuckle.

"Okay, I'm going to recast the spell. Cupil, when I'm done, pop back outside and make sure Kirala knows we're still alive, please?" Fina lightly poked the inflated Apis in the side and he squeaked in acknowledgment.

When the spell had been renewed again, the four of them let go of Cupil and allowed themselves to sink. He deflated and then vanished into thin air, and they set about following Aika's train of blue magic. Within little time they were back into the main tunnel and resuming their descent, and before long a spot of muted azure appeared beneath them. It slowly grew, bleeding a soft glow into the tunnel. At long last, the passage ended and dropped them into yet another bubble cavern, and this one was the most beautiful yet.

Here, crystallized chunks of blue moonstone had somehow mixed in with the lava and now protruded from the walls of the cavern, bathing it in tranquil blue luminescence. Some of the formations were as large as a lifeboat and some clusters as big as a house, casting long and fleeting shadows across the cavern floor. Large cracks split the sand in an intricate latticework, and from them rose thin curtains of bubbles, gleaming like pearls in the cool light. Vyse couldn't tell if it was the lighting or if they had actually changed due to centuries in the presence of the moonstones, but all of the coral was a hundred different shades of azure, from a pale, almost white color to so dark a navy it was almost black. Large, translucent jellyfish lugubriously drifted to and fro like ghosts, and they were outlined in a shifting aura of neon indigo that they seemed to be generating themselves. But the most interesting thing was the great statue sunken roughly in the center of the cavern, listing at an awkward angle. He couldn't tell what it was from a distance, but it appeared to be a man with a needle-like sword pointing into the distance.

Vyse swam up to Fina and gently grasped her arm. She turned to face him and he pointed to the statue, watching her quizzically. Fina hesitated, then pointed at herself, but he wasn't sure what she was trying to say. Shaking her head, she instead pointed to the statue's sword and then trailed her finger to the cavern it was pointing to, giving a vigorous nod. He at least understood that much.

As they swam out towards the statue, the jellyfish changed their course and began to float towards the four of them instead, attracted by their light. There were about six of them in total, and as they drew near Vyse watched them curiously, amazed at how simple the creatures were. He stopped to get a better look at one, but Aika grabbed him and gave him a hard tug, jabbing a finger into one of her arms while staring at him pointedly. Her expression said it all: "You moron! They sting!"

They pressed onwards as quickly as they could, but the jellyfish continued to follow. Finally Enrique snuffed out his light, but it only served to give the unusual creatures pause. Vyse began to wonder if it hadn't been the light that had attracted them after all, but rather their movement. They were, after all, an anomaly in a world that hadn't been seen or touched in centuries.

The blue glow in the cavern was enough to see by, but it took a moment for their eyes to adjust from one light to the next. When Vyse was confident enough to move again, however, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. Whirling around, he found that one of the jellyfish had latched on to him.

_Oh shit._

Nobody had brought any weapons with them. Vyse had been too worried about his cutlasses rusting and had left them behind in Kirala's boat, but now he had no way of removing the stingers from his body. Suddenly the jellyfish burst in a small cloud of liquid and pulp, and Vyse realized one of the girls had thrown an ice shard at it, neatly severing its tentacles from its body.

_Okay...think..._ he told himself, reaching out to grasp the stingers still sticking out from his arm. _Dad taught me about sky jelly stings. These can't be too much different. Most of them aren't deadly. _Gritting his teeth, Vyse yanked the stingers as hard as he could and pried them from his arm, a small bit of blood clouding the water in their wake. _Vinegar...I need vinegar..._

He barely noticed as a cocoon of shifting multicolored light wrapped around the four of them, followed by a burst of electricity that shot through the water and fried the remaining jellyfish on contact. He couldn't really see much of anything moving anymore, really, but moons, his sting hurt more than he thought! Hissing through his teeth, Vyse clutched at his arm as it began to throb painfully, feeling the muscles tense up and lock. The pain was steadily spreading, making it hard to breathe. Vyse squinted his eyes, trying to cling to his senses, but the world eventually faded to black.

* * *

Fina's heart raced in her chest, and a terrible knot tied itself in her stomach as Vyse grew stiff and suddenly began to sink. Enrique was quick to dive and catch the rogue, supporting him over his shoulder and hefting him up as best he could. The prince shot a desperate gaze up at her but she could only return the look in equal desperation. She didn't know what to do! How was she to know those creatures were poisonous?

_Cupil! Where are you? _she asked, frantically searching for her companion.

No response. Cupil was too far off to hear her thoughts.

_This is bad. Oh moons, what am I going to do? I don't know how long he has..._ Fina quickly glanced around, searching for a place they could surface. _Silver magic is all we need, but I can't utter the incantation down here._

The ice shard had been different. With abundant water around her, she hadn't needed to use a complicated spell in order to form it – just some concentration. She suspected it had been similar with Enrique, who had a natural conductor for electricity all around him. But silver magic had no element and she couldn't draw from the environment around her to cast. The only option they had was to keep swimming until they found a place where Vyse could rest.

Fina beckoned to the others and began to frantically paddle off, continuing in the direction they had originally been headed. The elders had said the crystal cavern was probably dry, but that was still a long ways off; she had only now found the landmark the Silvites had left for themselves. Did she dare risk any of the side tunnels, though? That had the potential to take even longer without Cupil to scout ahead for her. She began to mentally kick herself for ever sending him away.

A strange clicking noise suddenly reverberated throughout the cavern, followed by a high-pitched squeal. Fina glanced over her shoulder but had no idea where it was coming from, and she certainly had no time to investigate. But a flicker of movement caught her eye and she could not ignore it, turning to find five large, sleek shapes rise up from the reef below. When they emerged in the light she realized they were coming straight for her, and though they didn't have wings like their flying cousins, she would have recognized them anywhere – ancient delphins!

The group was forced to pause again as they found themselves surrounded by the small pod. The delphins circled them briefly, clicking and nudging them and studying them with one eye, and then suddenly one forced its way between Vyse and Enrique and began to carry the rogue off. Two of them took turns pushing him along with their noses, and they sped off down the tunnel faster than any of them could ever hope to swim.

_What are they doing?!_ Fina cried out in protest, but her voice was lost in the water. _This isn't a game! They'll kill him!_

Suddenly she felt something stiff and smooth press into her hand. Blinking, she realized one of the delphins had swam up to her and pressed one of its fins against her palm. The other two were behaving in a similar way with Aika and Enrique, nudging them in the sides persistently and offering them their fins.

_Are they...taking us with him? I know they are very intelligent, but..._

But what other choice did they have at this point? As absurd as it seemed, maybe the delphins really _had_ shown up to help them.

Fina carefully grasped the offered fin and suddenly the delphin shot off, rocketing through the water like a torpedo did the air. The Silvite was shocked at how fast it could move, and when she looked back over her shoulder she found Aika and Enrique clinging to their new friends for dear life. Their weight did not seem to slow the creatures down in the slightest, and the caverns flew by in a blur. The delphins did not cut the water but rather moved as a _part_ of it, as agile and graceful as any bird or fish in the sky.

They shot through one tunnel and emerged in a sub-cavern, then turned and plunged through another passage, and then a third. Fish scattered in all directions as they went speeding by, leaving enormous clouds of bubbles in their wake. At one point the labyrinth of tunnels ended and they passed through a narrow chamber where large stalagmites and stalactites made swimming in a straight line impossible, but the delphins did not slow or hesitate and instead wove seamlessly between them. Abruptly the cavern ended and they went plunging over a roaring waterfall, falling down, down, down into an impossibly deep pool below.

The delphins gently nosed them to the surface and then slowed, towing them along carefully. Fina coughed and spit out a large amount of water, clinging to her delphin as she brushed her hair from her eyes. What she saw was a large, perfectly round cavern, with a high-domed ceiling that had obviously been smoothed away by human hands. Beyond the waterfall the water was perfectly still and undisturbed, and it glowed a soothing cerulean color that rippled and danced all over the cavern walls. A strange circular seal had actually been drawn _on_ the water with silver magic, and it formed a couple of interlocking rings surrounding a small stone temple floating in the center, of the same craftsmanship as the earlier ruins. It was here that the delphins brought them, and Fina was shocked to find that the first two had not only brought Vyse to the cavern as well, but had deposited him safely on the temple steps.

With a soft cry, Fina let go of her delphin and began to paddle for the temple, and Aika tried to follow but was hindered by her complete inability to swim. The Silvite pulled herself up onto the stairs and then fumbled to feel for Vyse's pulse, but her hands were cold and numb and she couldn't feel a thing. Instead, she opted to press her head to Vyse's chest and listen carefully; his breathing was shallow and his heartbeat erratic, but still there.

"Oh thank the moons," she murmured, hearing Aika and Enrique give relieved sighs behind her at those words. Deftly, she rolled rolled back the sleeve on the offending arm and studied the wound. Vyse had apparently ripped the stingers out and made a huge mess of things, likely poisoning himself even more in the process. It was a wonder he was still alive.

Closing her eyes and reaching for the now-distant Silver Moon, Fina bent low over him, spread her hands across his chest, and began to get to work.

* * *

Enrique was only too happy to get out of the water. A stone dock of sorts led out from the temple stairs, and it was this he climbed upon as Fina began to set about curing Vyse. With a tired grunt, the soggy prince flopped down on his back on the cool stone and stared up at the cavern ceiling high above, grateful to have something solid underneath him again. To say that what had just happened was a close call would have been an understatement, and he began to wonder what the three air pirates had seen while gathering the first two moon crystals. Surely there were things out there more dangerous than jellyfish guarding the other stones!

_I'm probably lucky to have missed the worst of it, having come in so late in their journey..._ he thought, lazily extending a hand as his delphin swam over to him and nosed him for attention. _All of this has been luck. If these delphins hadn't shown up, Vyse would be dead by now. I guess the stories about them rescuing people really are true._

But Vyse's brush with death was also a slight wake up call for him. The danger in these ancient places was very real, and he didn't know if he was prepared to deal with it. He certainly had no idea how to treat bites and stings or how to cure wounds; these were things that real sailors knew and could cope with before they ever set sail into the skies.

_I'll just have to learn then_, he told himself, sitting up and wringing out his hair. _I will not be a burden to these people. It's going to be hard, just like fighting...but I can do it._

Absently, he thought back to one of his conversations with Moegi. Though their talks were always extremely limited, she had taught him an old Yafutoman proverb that had left him pondering for quite some time: "A man's worth is determined not by his potential, but by his actions." Enrique's first thought was to apply her words to the Armada, where there were many good men who did questionable things. There were even some high ranking officials who were completely useless, like his older cousin Alfonso. But now he realized that he had likely misinterpreted her words, and got to pondering again. Despite her shy nature, Moegi was amazingly smart and wise for her years – and it charmed him.

Standing, Enrique began to pick up pieces of stone that had fallen from above and skip them across the water. He glanced over to check on Vyse, but the girls were hovering over him worriedly and he couldn't see a thing beyond them. The prince had to grin a little at that, casting off another stone.

The stone landed with a soft plop and a few large bubbles rolled to the surface beneath it. Enrique blinked and tossed another one, but the bubbles were closer to him now, away from where the stones had fallen. The prince had cocked his arm back to toss a third when suddenly a dark shape lurched up from the deeps, drenching them all in a spray of salt water. Enrique dove to the side just in time as something large and beaky snapped at him, and he heard the girls cry out in surprise on the other end of the dock.

Looming up out of the water was a giant turtle, easily on par with the size of the temple they rested at. It was covered in beautiful silver scales that shone like diamonds in the blue light, but they were crusted over with barnacles and muscles in some places as if the turtle had been underwater for half an eternity. Its shell was spiked and its head was crowned in similar protrusions, giving it a menacing edge that its smaller flying brethren certainly didn't have. Clasped around its neck was a strange collar embedded with blue moonstones.

"Ahh! He summoned the guardian!" Aika cried, dashing for the temple door. She tried to heft it open, but it did not give an inch. "We're trapped!"

"We have no choice...we have to fight it off somehow!" Fina slipped her arms under Vyse's and carefully dragged him up the stairs to safety. The turtle caught the movement and whirled around at them, sending a burst of icy breath their way. Aika quickly countered with fire magic and melted it into steam, sparing them from the hail of frozen shards.

"Magic's all we have," she said. "We have to keep our distance and throw everything we've got at it!"

Fina hesitated, then skittered down to join them.

By then the steam had cleared and the turtle could see again. It swept a fin over the narrow platform they stood on and the girls were forced to jump over it, clearing it just in time. It followed up with a headbutt and they dove to either side, and Enrique realized that it was trying to knock them into the water.

Pressing his hands together, the prince conjured a ball of electricity and threw it at the giant creature, catching it in the side of the face. It shook violently for a few seconds and recoiled, only to lurch at him in retaliation. He nimbly dodged and leapt up onto its head, grabbing one of the spikes there for balance as it began to thrash about. Another jolt stunned it for a precious few seconds, giving the girls ample time to sling some spells of their own. As the turtle recovered, however, it suddenly pulled its head into its shell, nearly sending Enrique into the water. He managed to grab the edge of the dock just in time and the girls pulled him back up to safety.

The turtle began to submerge, and they watched it disappear into the dark waters. But mere heartbeats later it suddenly burst back to the surface behind them and snapped Fina up in its jaws, and had Aika not caught it immediately after with a burst of flame it would have bitten her clean in two. But as the Silvite dropped back down onto the platform, Aika continued to push the creature, which clearly had as much distaste for flame as it did Enrique's shocks. She conjured up a fireball and then split it into many duplicates, sending them spiraling forth in a torrent of flame that began to burn the scales clean off its body.

"Back off!" she cried.

The turtle reared and pulled back from the platform, shaking itself off. But then the unexpected happened: it bowed its head and wrapped itself in a cocoon of verdant light. The gentle glow slowly seeped in to its body and they watched incredulously as its burns faded and its scales grew back. The creature knew how to _heal_ itself!

As it continued to channel, the three gathered their energy and attacked as one. The resulting magical explosion was enough to blind them and send the turtle skidding backwards across the water, where it hit the cavern wall so hard that it trembled and shook hunks of stone loose. They hit the water with tremendous splashes, forcing the three to scatter and dodge the falling debris.

When the guardian recovered it was blanketed in dust and pebbles. A few of the falling rocks had hit it and broken its shell, tearing some spikes off in the process. It looked infuriated now, and began to swim circles around the room, gradually picking up speed. It was too fast for them to follow, too fast to direct a spell at properly, and the three were forced to watch anxiously as an angry whirlpool began to form around them.

But it wasn't just the water. The air in the cavern was stirring, swirling around them as well, swiftly becoming more violent. Suddenly the turtle stopped and lifted its head, and the winds snatched them up like an invisible hand and threw them skywards. Enrique felt like a fly caught in a web, unable to move as they swirled higher and higher. The two girls hit the walls with barely-audible cracks and he followed soon after, feeling his shoulder and ribs pop painfully. With all the air knocked out of him, the prince could not cry, could not move, could not do anything as the winds suddenly let go and he plummeted into the swirling waters below.

Hitting the water was like hitting cement, and it swallowed his slender frame hungrily. Enrique felt himself being dragged downward but was too dazed to comprehend anything else, to even care that the overwhelming spell had stripped them of their waterbreathing. He held his breath, for whatever good it did, trying to force his body to move, but it refused. As it was he could only feel half of it.

Suddenly something gently pressed into his back and fought against the overwhelming current to push him to the surface. They emerged by the temple again and Enrique coughed and sputtered, trying to force the liquid out of his lungs. The delphins had returned to save them again, he realized, and as the rest of the pod safely deposited an unconscious Aika and Fina on the temple steps, they swam off to assault the guardian.

The waters began to calm as the guardian turned on their saviors. They leapt into the air and dove at it, striking its head and neck and aiming for the softer flesh the cracked shell left exposed. The turtle roared and snatched one out of the sky, and it squealed piteously as it was bit in half. Enrique watched in horror as the two halves of the gentle creature were carelessly cast aside, but its podmates only redoubled their efforts and struck harder. He couldn't believe it.

The delphins made quite a distraction, but they would not last long, he knew. Time was running short, and he cringed as another pitiful squeal marked the death of a second delphin. He had to think fast, but what could he do? Without the girls to back him up, he wouldn't be able to conjure up enough magical power to hold the giant turtle at bay!

And then it struck him. He was surrounded by water.

It was dangerous without Aika, not only to himself, but to the remaining delphins, which he wanted to protect just as much as the unconscious Vyse, Aika and Fina. His plan would require an intense level of concentration that he had never attempted before, and he was already beaten and in tremendous pain. Gritting his teeth, the prince reached out and compacted the light in the room into solid bubbles, willing them to form around his aquatic companions. They noticed the strange change around them and paused, jumping back as the turtle snapped at them and bounced off the shield harmlessly.

Enrique reached for his yellow moonstone and clutched it tightly in his hand. In the back of his mind he could feel the sharp, almost painful tingle that was the presence of the Yellow Moon and thought of home, thought of the raging thunderstorms and violent earthquakes that often rocked Valua. He could feel such raw energy flood his body, could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as it crackled around and through him. And then, Enrique dropped to his knees and plunged a fist into the water, releasing the electric current into its depths.

The room suddenly lit up with a blinding yellow flare. Electricity shot across the pool in all directions and churned the dark waters, popping and sparking angrily. The delphins squealed in alarm as it jumped all around them, but Enrique squeezed his eyes shut and maintained the wavering shields as best he could, sparing them from the deadly current. The turtle, however, was not so impervious, thrashing and writhing violently as it was electrocuted. Enrique continued to channel into the water until the turtle literally began to smoke, until he was sure that it would be unable to recover. Finally, the prince pulled back and the current dissipated. The guardian grew limp, rolled over, and slowly sank back into the watery abyss.

"Heh. Pretty good," came a voice from behind him. Wearily, Enrique turned to see Vyse sitting up in the doorway of the temple, a tired grin on his face.

Enrique rubbed the back of his neck with his good arm, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his side. "I hope that I'm being useful..."

The remaining three delphins squee'd and swam up to him, bobbing in the water excitedly. Vyse only chuckled, struggling to drag himself to his feet.

"Useful? We owe you our lives twice over now."

"Yes, but...I am the one who awakened it," Enrique protested, gazing out to where the turtle had sank.

"Nah." Vyse shuffled over to the girls, his brow creasing as he looked them over, but the rogue finally relaxed when he decided they were safe. "That thing was probably waiting for us."

Enrique blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Fina said all the moon crystals have a guardian, a last defense against people who would steal them," he replied, carefully propping both of the girls up on the stairs. "In Nasr we fought this lava worm thing, and in Ixa'Taka we almost got eaten by a giant bird." He paused, rubbing his eyes. "But did that thing shoot magic at you? I've never seen an animal cast magic before."

Just then the girls began to stir, wincing in pain. Fina suddenly rolled over and pulled a blanket of green light around herself, and it slowly spread out to encompass all of them. Aika sorely sat up and blinked her eyes, and Enrique felt his broken bones mend and his shoulder pop back into place. The prince slowly let out a relieved sigh as the nagging pain faded from his body, grateful that at least one of them knew healing magic.

"Oww...my head," Aika groaned. "What happened?"

"We were attacked by the crystal guardian," Fina said quietly, pushing herself up. "But it appears to be gone."

"Enrique electrocuted it to death." Vyse grinned, as if such a thing was normal. Enrique blushed as he suddenly found all three pairs of eyes on him.

"I-I had help, you know..." He gestured to the delphins, who clicked loquaciously.

"I'm so sorry...about your friends..." Fina knelt by the creatures and stroked their domed heads, and they bobbed up and down in contentment. "You've done so much for us. Thank you."

Whether or not they understood her was unclear, but the delphins certainly did not seem upset. With a final, playful squeal they performed a graceful backflip and dove into the water, vanishing into the deeps.

"Well...it seems the seal is broken." Fina stood and gestured to the water, and for the first time Enrique realized that the silver circle that had somehow been etched on its surface had vanished. "The crystal should be just inside."

"If everyone's recovered, let's go." Vyse stretched out tiredly. "Man, after this I'm never going to want to see a drop of water ever again."


	26. Blue Winds

The Blue Moon Crystal was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever seen. Teardrop shaped and perfectly smooth, it shone with every color of blue possibly imaginable, the azure glow enough to transfix one for hours on end. Even Lord Mikado could not help but to stare deep into it as he cradled it carefully in his hands, his eyes wide with amazement.

"The Maga Sphere...Never did I expect to see it in my lifetime. Many have braved Mount Kazai to recover it, but none have returned from its depths. Travelers, I am eternally in your debt. How can I ever repay you?"

"Well, like we said, we need to take it with us to keep it from the Valuans," Vyse replied. "Tell him we need nothing in payment, just that we would like to borrow it for a while."

Fina translated his words.

"Mmm..." Lord Mikado frowned lightly, his mustache drooping and making him appear more upset than he sounded. "It will be difficult to let go of the symbol of royal succession, but we have an agreement. I would like to hold on to it for a time, at least while you remain in Yafutoma."

Vyse felt put-out, but he wasn't about to argue with a king, especially not one who had been so hospitable towards them. "Uhm...sure..."

"Royal succession, huh?" Aika asked, curiously. "I guess that makes Moegi their next queen."

Moegi blinked as she heard her name and looked at Fina quizzically. The Silvite translated Aika's words, but for some reason the princess seemed terribly upset. She quietly murmured a reply.

"What did you say to her?" Enrique frowned.

"I-I just translated what Aika said. I don't know why she's unhappy..." Fina replied, meekly.

"Well! I believe you four have certainly earned your rest," Lord Mikado said, hastily changing the subject. "Roam about the city; relax. I have ordered a feast and a festival be prepared in celebration of this day."

Aika cheered excitedly, her outburst earning more than one aghast look. "Now that's what I'm talking about! I can't wait to see how the Yafutomans party!"

Vyse grinned. "Yafutoman food is already amazing. Their special dishes must be incredible! Tell him we'll be honored to join him."

That night was beyond any of their expectations. The festival grounds were alight with bonfires and literally hundreds of red paper lanterns, strung between poles and a ring of cherry trees in full bloom. Long, low tables were piled with steaming food that nobody knew the names for, and it took little time at all for them to eat their fill. Enormous drums pounded out lively beats to dance to, and both the sky and ground alike burned with brilliant bursts of sound and color – fireworks and firecrackers, Fina called them. There were actors and acrobats and men who performed insane feats, from juggling swords to walking across hot coals. It truly was one wonder after another.

Enrique and Moegi spent much of the night together. Vyse and Aika often tossed jokes back and forth as they watched the two dance, amused at how awkward he was as he obviously tried to impress her.

"I bet he can do formal balls and stuff just fine." Aika grinned wickedly. "But for this? He's just too...Valuan."

Vyse was more interested in the fireworks than any dancing. Suddenly feeling ten years younger, he watched with boyish glee as people blew things up on purpose, sending bursts of color into the nighttime sky. It sounded like a ship battle was raging on above them, and he grinned at the familiar rumble of exploding gunpowder deep in his chest. After some confusing pantomime he managed to convince the engineers to let him fire off a few, and laughed delightedly as he lit up the heavens with falling stars.

Aika, in the meantime, had gotten her hands on one of the enormous drums, and was pounding away at it so vigorously that some of the real drummers looked tired by simply watching her. She had a sense of rhythm, though, and easily fell into the same beat the other drummers were playing. The crewmembers who had decided to join the party cheered and hollered at her wildly, sticking out rather sorely compared to the rest of the crowd.

Fina, as usual, sat quietly off to one side and simply watched. She spent much of the night glued to the plays, the only one who could really understand them, until Aika dragged her off and made her play a few of the festival games. By the end of the night, the two had won a few gold coins, a goldfish, and several pounds of candy.

It was well into the night before they decided they were too tired to continue on. Moegi escorted them back to the guest house they had been staying in, herself looking fatigued but happy. She smiled warmly and opened the door for them, giving a slight bow.

"I am so happy you all enjoyed yourselves tonight. I've never had anyone my age to spend a festival with."

"Heh. It was fun!" Vyse replied, giving her a trademark grin. "Even princesses have to enjoy themselves, you know?"

"I don't know what I was expecting for a Yafutoman party, but that was way better than I thought it would be." Aika beamed. "I think I'm getting the hang of those eating sticks, too!"

Moegi giggled as that last bit was translated for her. "One day I would like to see what you eat with. Enrikku and Vaisu tried to describe them to me, but I just can't imagine them."

Vyse had to hold back a chuckle as she mispronounced his name for what was likely the one-hundredth time, but he found he was not alone in his amusement. A higher-pitched laughter came from behind him, and the five of them turned to find Muraji standing there.

"The Westerners enjoyed themselves, hm? Well, at least they have some taste," he said. "I came to thank you personally for retrieving the Maga Sphere."

"What does he care?" Vyse asked Fina.

"It is very important to me," he continued, ignoring Vyse. "I'll be sure to take good care of it when Moegi and I are married."

Vyse felt Enrique stiffen beside him. To his surprise, however, Moegi shook her head and retorted with something that momentarily seemed to surprise Muraji. Fina hastened to translate as the two of them fell into a heated argument.

"I will never marry you!"

"You don't have too much of a choice..."

Moegi huffed. "You think you have a chance at the throne! You'll never be king as long as Daigo is alive!"

"Have you forgotten that Daigo has been exiled for treason?" Muraji grinned wickedly. "I highly doubt that they'd let a traitor be king."

Moegi opened her mouth to reply to that, but no words would come. Tears welled up in her dark eyes as she stared at Muraji incredulously. "You...how dare you..." she whispered.

"Enough!" Enrique suddenly cried, pushing past Vyse. Though the prince was barely over six feet tall, he loomed over Muraji in comparison, and that's exactly what he did as he approached the older man. "I don't know what your motives are, but this is NOT how a nobleman treats a lady. If you insist on continuing like this, then you'll have to deal with _me_ first."

A stunned silence fell over the group. Vyse nudged Fina and she hesitantly translated.

Whatever smugness Muraji previously had had suddenly deflated right out of him. He looked up at Enrique but was only met with a glowering pair of blue eyes, and slowly he recoiled away.

"You-you think you can speak to me like that j-just because you returned the Maga Sphere? You're not as strong as you think you are! My father will be hearing about this!" And with that he whirled around and ran off.

Silence fell over the five of them again. Enrique continued to glare at the retreating form of Muraji even long after he was gone from sight. Eventually Moegi stepped forward until she was just behind him, bowing her head ashamedly.

"Prince Enrique...I'm sorry," she said, halfway in Valuan. "I didn't mean to put you in a position where you felt you had to defend me."

Enrique's expression finally softened into a smile as he turned to face her. "No, think nothing of it. Where I come from we have rules on how a gentleman should treat a lady, such as yourself." He paused, then grinned sheepishly. "Well, honestly, not many people follow those rules anymore."

Moegi looked stunned. "Prince Enrique..."

"But what Muraji was talking about concerns me..." Enrique frowned then, almost looking stern. "Who is this Daigo you mentioned? Why would he take the throne before you?"

To that Moegi only averted her gaze, staring down at her feet. "It's...nothing. Please forget what happened tonight."

"But--"

"I'll be returning to my chambers now. Pleasant dreams." With that Moegi bowed and then swept off in a quiet rustling of long robes. Enrique took a few steps as if to follow her and then seemed to decide against it, simply staring after her instead.

Aika sidled up to Vyse and elbowed him slyly. "Toldja so," she whispered.

Vyse only gave a guilty grin in response. "I didn't disbelieve you. We've been here about two weeks and he's spent almost all that time with her."

"I-I don't understand. What's going on?" Fina whispered, peering over his shoulder.

"Oh, nothing." Aika's face cracked into an impish grin. "Enrique's just in love."

* * *

Another month flew by in a productive blur, and during that time they neither saw nor heard from Kangan or Muraji. Kirala approached them about joining the crew of the _Delphinus_ and when they agreed, she not only dragged her younger sister Urala along to help Polly cook, but also put them into contact with a Yafutoman shipwright who began to outfit the _Delphinus_ with Yafutoman technology. He said it would take him time to build, but he would be able to create an engine for the _Delphinus_ that would allow it to reach the intense heights and depths a Yafutoman vessel could. The shipwright also offered cannons that was startlingly more potent than Valuan firepower; Fina explained that the Yafutomans had re-discovered gunpowder long before the Valuans did and that, because they had been working with it for so long, they were masters of explosive weaponry.

In the meantime, Aika kept herself busy by working alongside Urala in her teahouse and learning how to cook Yafutoman food. Fina spent much of her time playing a diplomat and, when she wasn't educating Yafutoman scholars on the West, she was either teaching Enrique how to speak Yafutoman or teaching Moegi how to speak Valuan. She humored the two of them gently, and as it was they were nearly inseparable. Vyse realized that the language barrier probably only added an element of excitement to the two royals' awkward relationship; each must have seemed tremendously mysterious to the other.

But as Vyse waited for the renovations on his ship to finish, he searched Yakaido for someone who was either willing to teach him to fight as the samurai fought or to teach him to fight without weapons as Jao and Mao did. He realized that without Fina to translate for him that was easier said than done, but he tried it anyway, not willing to take no for an answer. One day at last he came to a humble looking weapons shop on the far end of town, and found only a small, half-blind old man tending to it. For a long time Vyse simply watched as the old man worked, crafting a sword with extreme care, and it wasn't until a good two hours later that the blacksmith finally deigned to notice him.

"Mm. Westerner." He nodded curtly to him.

"You speak Meridian?" Vyse blinked.

The old man chuckled hoarsely. "I've learned many things from the Tenkou."

"Are you Tenkou?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Me?" The old man laughed at that. "No. But one day while I was out sailing they tried to steal my weapons from me. I beat them senseless, but I told them that if they could show me something I had never seen in my long lifetime, I would be willing to craft weapons for them for free. So they taught me how to speak the Western tongue."

"But how?" Vyse asked. "How do they know it?"

"I wish I knew," the old man replied. "All I know is they learned it from their leader, and were willing to pass it on to me."

"Most people here don't know it..."

"Most people here do not interact with the Tenkou." The old man grunted to that. "They are _ronin_, outcasts. And for good reason. I take it you survived your encounter with them, if you know their name."

"Heh...yeah. They tried to take my swords..."

The old man beckoned him over. "Let me see them. What does a Western man call a blade?"

Vyse knelt before the old man and unsheathed his cutlasses, carefully laying them on the floor where he sat. The ancient blacksmith squinted and leaned forward, peering at them scrutinizingly. He picked one up and balanced it in his hand, then gave a few experimental swings. Vyse was shocked at how agile he was; it was like he was only half as old as he looked.

"Hm...A bit clumsy compared to a _katana_...but overall this is excellent craftsmanship," he mused. "Do you know your blades well, boy?"

"Not really." Vyse chuckled a little. "My dad gave me these as a present for my tenth birthday. I've been using them all my life."

"It shows." The old man was amused. "What is your name?"

"Me? I'm Vyse."

"Vaisu..." The old man suddenly quirked a crooked grin. "I have heard much about you, Vaisu. I am called Ryu-kan."

"Uh...is this where I bow?" Vyse rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm...really bad at Yafutoman customs. Sorry..."

Ryu-kan laughed at that. "At least you are honest. I take no offense."

"I'm trying. Really!" Vyse grinned. "It's just...everything's so different and complex here: your food, your greetings, even your fighting."

"Is that so?" Ryu-kan arched a bushy white eyebrow at that. "How did you fight the Tenkou, then?"

"I had help," he replied. "Two of my friends are very talented magicians, and the third is also good with a blade."

"Show me."

"What?"

Ryu-kan stood, carefully taking a sword from where it hung on the nearby wall. "You said your friend was 'also' good with a blade. Which means you claim to be good with a blade as well. So show me. I have a small ring out back where I used to teach the youth in this city how to fight. It's been a long time since I've had a student. Perhaps you may be worthy."

* * *

The _Delphinus_ was finished in the next few days, and Vyse had another person to count among his crew: impressed by Vyse's improvised fighting style, Ryu-kan volunteered to travel along with him and not only keep everyone armed and armored, but also to teach them how to defend themselves. The rogue was excited to have a formal teacher at last and spent much of his time studying with the wizened blacksmith.

Towards the end of the week they received a summon from Lord Mikado, who was pleased with how relations between his crew and the Yafutoman people had been going. The emperor stated that he was debating sending a diplomat back with them to further strengthen their bonds and perhaps establish trade, but wanted to know just how war-torn the West was and if it would be safe for them to go. The four of them were in the middle of describing Valua's attack on Nasr to him when suddenly the doors to the throneroom burst open and a breathless guard stumbled through, hastily bowing to them.

"My lord! It's an emergency!" he cried.

Mikado rose to his feet. "What? What's wrong?"

"Dozens of black ships have surrounded the harbor. They're forming a blockade!" the guard replied. "What appears to be their flagship is trying to dock as we speak!"

"What?!" the emperor cried.

"Black ships?" Vyse grit his teeth. "You've got to be kidding me! How did they get over here so fast?"

"I don't know, but we'd better hurry to the port!" Enrique sprang to his feet. "Let's go!"

Together, the four hastily excused themselves and rushed from the palace, racing down Yakaido's narrow streets as fast as they could. Far below them, through the mists formed by the waterfalls on the upper islands, Vyse could see a swarm of Valuan ships hovering just above the port, blotting out the sun in the harbor. Hundreds of people had emerged to gaze at the foreboding sight, and a flotilla of tiny lifeboats was making its way unhindered towards the docks. It made Vyse run just that much faster.

They arrived at the same time as the lifeboats. The flotilla pulled up to one of the lower docks and Valuan soldiers began to pour out, forcing the onlookers back as they arranged themselves into two neat rows. Two figures followed up behind them, and the soldiers raised their swords in respectful salutes as they passed by. As they neared, Vyse could not believe what he was seeing.

"Belleza...and Vigoro!?"

The fourth admiral smiled pleasantly, almost coyly, pausing as their two paths crossed. "It's certainly been a while, Handsome. I had a feeling I'd find you here."

"Whoa! Red!" Vigoro grinned wolfishly. "It seems fate has brought us together again!"

"AGH!" Aika pulled on her braids, as if to rip out all her hair at once. "What's he doing here!?"

"It's destiny, baby." Vigoro winked. "Come aboard my ship. Maybe the two of us can rock the boat..."

"Vigoro, please!" Belleza elbowed her burly companion, and he grunted and glared at her irritably. "We are in the presence of Prince Enrique." So said she placed a hand over her heart and bowed slightly, canting her head towards the prince. "I hope my Prince finds himself in good health. We've been terribly worried about you."

Vyse drew his cutlasses, causing the guards to whirl around, but Belleza lifted a hand and they froze, falling back into position. "Belleza...do you plan to burn Yakaido as well?" he demanded.

To that, Belleza only laughed. "Vyse, I thought you knew me better than that. Unlike other certain admirals, I am against unnecessary violence. Vigoro and I are simply here to speak to the king of these lands. Our mission is the same as yours: we seek the Blue Crystal."

"You're wasting your time. Lord Mikado is an honorable man. He'll never let you have it!" Vyse replied. "Besides, these people don't speak Valuan. You can't even communicate with them."

"Wrong. On both counts." Belleza took a few more steps forward until she brushed past him, then turned and met his gaze. "Everyone has their morals, their codes, their values. But everyone also has a weakness. If you find that weakness, and exploit it, then those morals and values suddenly seem to vanish. And the language? Well, just as you have a Silvite with extensive knowledge of the world, so do we. Ramirez has been teaching me Yafutoman for several years now. Covert operations work best when you can blend in, you know. Any other questions?"

Vyse was at a loss for words. All he could do was stare at her.

"You're cute when you're frustrated." Belleza leaned over and kissed his cheek. "See you around, Handsome."

"Catch you later, Red." Vigoro winked at Aika, then followed Belleza as she strode purposefully into the city.

"Vyse! We've got to stop them!" Aika cried, staring incredulously at the two admirals as they left.

"We can't...not now." Vyse clenched his fists around the hilts of his cutlasses. "They're here acting as Imperial diplomats. If we attack them during their meeting with the king, we'll be criminals."

Enrique nodded. "The best thing we can do for now is lay low and wait this out. Belleza may favor trickery but we can trust her on one thing: she will not cause any undue harm to this city or its people. She's a true diplomat; my mother likely only sent Vigoro and his fleet as a show of force."

"Alright." Vyse sighed dejectedly. "Let's just...go back to the guest house then. Nothing else to do..."

* * *

The hours passed by excruciatingly slow, and Vyse felt ready to go mad with all the waiting. The four of them bid their time in Enrique's room, but the rogue had paced its length so many times that Aika murmured he was going to wear a hole in the floor. She was nearly just as restless, though, as were Enrique and Fina. The later two attempted to play a board game but fidgeted with the pieces more than they did any actual playing, and eventually dropped it altogether.

"This sucks. We can't even get to the _Delphinus_." Vyse growled. "Nearly the entire crew was on there helping finish things up. I hope they're okay..."

"This waiting is _killing_ me!" Aika cried, flopping back onto Enrique's floor mattress exasperatedly. "What the heck is taking them so long?"

Vyse sighed, running a hand back through his hair. "You know how those diplomatic meetings are. It takes forever just for them to figure out who gets to sit down first."

"I just wish we knew _something_ about what's going on." Aika took her turn to sigh. "Can't they send a messenger or a servant or something? It's been unusually quiet around here. I'm really getting worried."

"That says a lot." Enrique quirked a wry smile. "It's pretty quiet here to begin with."

The four of them paused as they heard a strange noise somewhere outside. Vyse recognized it as the sound of the thin, flat sandals the Yafutomans wore slapping against the ground -- someone was running, and they were getting closer. Suddenly the door to the room slid open and Moegi stumbled through, panting and gasping for breath. She was flushed and disheveled, but looked no worse for wear; Enrique crouched by her worriedly and helped her to her feet.

"Princess! What's wrong?"

Fina hastened to translate.

"It's terrible! I can't believe what's happening!" Moegi shook her head. "Kangan and Muraji...they've betrayed us!"

"What?!" Vyse cried.

"It all happened so fast..." Moegi blinked tears from her eyes. "The woman in red spent a long time talking to father, trying to convince him to surrender to the Valuan Empire..."

* * *

"NEVER!"

Lord Mikado's booming shout echoed throughout the throneroom, silencing the guards and other nobles who were gathered and arguing amongst themselves fiercely. Moegi jumped at the abruptness of it, holding a hand over her heart as she felt it began to pound.

"Yafutoma will never surrender to the warlords of the Valuan Empire!"

"But Lord Mikado," Belleza purred, in strangely-accented Yafutoman, "surely you recognize the fact that your pitiful navy wouldn't last a day against the overwhelming might of the Armada. To prevent an unnecessary loss of life, I highly recommend that you do this."

"Yafutoma is protected by the Blue Moon," Mikado replied, trembling with rage. "In the past, whenever our country was threatened, the Blue Winds came to our aid and saved us. You will be blown into the Dark Rift, just like our enemies of old!"

"Can I do nothing to change your mind?" Belleza asked.

Lord Mikado glared balefully at her.

"I see. Very well..." Slowly the admiral stood, and the hulking brute next to her did the same. "Then I shall gain possession of Yafutoma...by my own means."

Turning, Belleza faced Kangan and nodded to him, saying something in Valuan that Moegi did not recognize. Kangan in turn faced the guards at the door, stroking his beard sinisterly.

"Let them in," he commanded.

The doors to the palace were suddenly kicked open, and more Valuan soldiers than she could count poured through, fully armored and with weapons drawn. They formed a ring around the room and cut off all exits, hovering over the select few guards and nobles that she knew were her father's retainers. Lord Mikado rose to his feet but suddenly found the edge of a sword at his throat, freezing in place. Muraji cackled gleefully.

"You'd better be quiet, or you're about to become a whole head shorter," he said.

"Muraji...you TRAITOR!" Mikado roared. "What is the meaning of this!?"

"My lord, as the Lady Bereza said, Yafutoma stands no chance against the Valuan Empire. It's as simple as that," Kangan said. "In order to save our people, we're usurping your power. This nation will fall to Valua."

"Wow, Belleza! I'm impressed!" she heard the large man say in Valuan. "I'm glad we're on the same side!"

"Don't relax just yet, big guy." Belleza folded her arms across her chest and bowed her head ruefully. "Not while you-know-who is still around."

* * *

"Belleza...I should have known!" Enrique cried. "She must have somehow met with those two before this meeting and planned the whole thing out! But how?"

"We can figure that out later! What do we do now?" Aika asked. "Lord Mikado's in danger!"

Vyse shook his head. "We can't save him now. There's no way. The city and palace are no doubt crawling with Valuan guards, and they've probably convinced the samurai that we're the enemy. We've got to hide and regroup."

"Are you sure that's okay? Moegi?" Aika looked at the princess, almost guiltily.

"Father may be tortured...and he may have to commit _sepukku_...but the alternative is all of us dying." Moegi swallowed thickly. "A-and I believe that if that happens, Yafutoma will stand no chance at all. Do you truly wish to flee?"

Vyse nodded. "We have no choice."

"Then please...follow me."

Aika frowned. "Wait! What's sepu—OW!"

Moegi gathered up her skirts and swept over to the back of the room, where there hung a large blue tapestry depicting Aoikaze. Deftly, she fumbled around behind it and there came a soft click, and with a firm push the wall gave way to a hidden passage on the other side. Nobody was about to ask questions, and they rushed down the darkened corridor as Moegi sealed the secret door behind them. The passage was cold and windy, and as Vyse rounded a corner he found it abruptly ended and dropped into open sky. There, tethered by a few ropes and connected to the passage by only a wooden plank, floated a small round boat waiting for them.

Moegi ushered them on board and quickly cut the ropes, vanishing then into the cabin. The ship began to hum and vibrate steadily as she brought it to life, and abruptly it shot up into the air, leaving Yakaido to swiftly fade into the clouds far below them.

"Heh. She can sail. Who knew?" Vyse tried to break the silence as he leaned over the railing of the boat, shivering as a cold wind fiercely whipped about them the higher they climbed.

"Politics look a little strained in Yafutoma right now. I mean...even before the Valuans came," Fina said, quietly. "It's likely due to the fact that they've been isolated for so long. Without another country to argue with, like Valua does Nasr, Yafutoma has largely been feuding with...itself."

"That's a terrible thought." Aika grimaced.

"I-I know...but it's likely the truth." Fina clasped her hands over her chest. "With that in mind, Moegi was probably taught how to fly this ship so that she could escape with her life should something happen."

"Why did they spare her, though?" Aika asked. "Why would they let her roam freely when they knew we were staying in Yakaido?"

"It likely was Muraji's decision." Enrique frowned, staring down through the clouds as if he could still see Yakaido. "As the new self-proclaimed heir-apparent, nothing stands in his way of making her his bride. And he doesn't seem like the type to throw the woman he's been obsessed with for years into prison. He also probably doesn't know the difference between me and Belleza -- he hears 'Valua-jin', or however they say it, and it's all the same to him."

The hours passed by in silence. Vyse watched the towering form of Mount Kazai move from one end of the horizon to the other, and they were so high that he could see the entirety of the bowl and the glittering waters within. Eventually the great volcano faded to an indistinct blue shape in the distance, and by then the sun was beginning to set and the stars were being hung in the sky like a million tiny paper lanterns. The rogue spent much of his time brooding, plotting his next move, but he could not come up with any answers and that frustrated him even more. Belleza could read him like a book, and she had covered all the bases before even setting foot inside Yakaido. Now the _Delphinus _ was lost, and his crew most likely taken prisoner alongside Lord Mikado – and he had never in a million years seen any of it coming.

Suddenly Vyse was aware of a presence behind him, and he turned to find an apologetic Moegi there. She said something to him in Yafutoman and then apologized in Valuan, and he had to inwardly boggle at the strange hybrid of languages she used.

"She says that you look troubled, and she's sorry," Fina said.

"I just...don't know what to do now." Vyse sighed, running his fingers back through his hair. "It's great that we escaped and all, and I'm thankful for that. But where do we go from here?"

To his surprise, Moegi responded. "A day and a night north from here, there rests a small island. On it is a secluded shrine that has stood since the days of the Old World. My brother...Daigo...should be there."

"What?!" he chorused in unison with Enrique and Aika.

"You have a brother? _That's_ who Daigo is?" Aika asked.

"Yes..." Moegi turned to look out over the railing, gazing reminiscently into the clouds below. "My brother was always a free spirit, and a bit irresponsible, which put him at odds with Kangan and Muraji. They're both very traditional, and they hate change, so Daigo must have seemed almost threatening to them. I don't know what happened...I was fairly young back then...but eventually father sent Daigo into exile. I don't know what he possibly could have done to make father disown him, but I would bet my life on the fact that Kangan had something to do with it."

"How can he help us, then?" Enrique asked.

"Daigo is not without power, nor without resources." Moegi frowned distantly. "You will see. Soon."

* * *

The sun had barely risen on the second day when a tiny chain of islands came into view. The five of them huddled together in the cramped cabin attempting to sleep, but Vyse found the cold, hard floor too uncomfortable and his thoughts were still too jumbled in his head to let him rest. He watched as the miniature archipelago steadily drew closer, little more than a cluster of large rocks connected by stone walkways that wound up to a central island. The island itself was fairly small, barely larger than Pirate Isle was, with only enough room on the steep, uneven surface for a single building and a crumbling wall surrounding a small courtyard. Vyse slowed the boat as they approached it, pulling it up to the closest thing to a dock he could find and tethering it to a rusted railing.

Praying that the mooring would hold, Vyse gently roused his companions and helped them onto land. The wind whipped powerfully all around them, clawing at their clothes and tousling their hair; it was all they could hear, and all they could feel. Vyse studied the island through his goggles but it looked thoroughly deserted, and what remnants of civilization it held were in serious disrepair. He hoped the walkways would hold beneath their weight, but they weren't exactly crumbling to begin with.

"Are you sure this is it?" Aika shouted over the wind.

Moegi nodded, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "I have been here many times. Daigo should be in the temple."

"Hope he doesn't mind guests," Vyse murmured. "I'm starved..."

The five began to move single-file up the winding pathways, dubiously testing each bridge before they crossed it. It was a long uphill walk, and the hairs on the back of Vyse's neck began to stand on end – not from the chill of the wind, but because he felt like he was being watched. Try as he may, though, the rogue could not find anything out of the ordinary, and they climbed unmolested from the dock to the temple gates. Pushing them open, Vyse was relieved to find that the courtyard was sheltered by the rest of the island, cutting off the nagging wind and leaving only a faint, pleasant breeze. As they approached the temple, however, there suddenly came a flash of movement, and two familiar figures leapt down from the roof. They landed before them in perfect unison, identical in everything they did.

"Westerners..."

"...we meet again."

"Oh hell, not you two!" Vyse grit his teeth, feeling a knot form in his stomach. He highly doubted Moegi could defend herself if the twins attacked. "What do you want?"

"It was very foolish...

"...for you to come here."

"Yeah, well we don't have much of a choice," he replied. "Why are _you_ here?"

"This is the headquarters..."

"...of the Tenkou."

That caught Vyse off guard, and he blinked. Was there more than one temple island? This one fit Moegi's description, but they obviously had stepped into a hornet's nest instead!

"Your trespassing matters not..."

"...for it has delivered you to us."

"The time has come..."

"...for you to die."

In unison, the twins crouched low and assumed offensive positions. Begrudgingly, Vyse drew his cutlasses and Enrique followed suit with his rapier, the girls moving in to shield a very confused looking Moegi. Suddenly, however, the doors to the temple burst open, and a very perturbed looking man stepped out.

He was tall and powerfully built, with only half a robe covering his body. At one point in time it looked to have been made of fine blue silk with golden flames leaping up the arms and hems, but half of it had been shorn away, exposing the right half of his torso and the twisted scar marring his chest and shoulder there. It seemed to be too small for him almost, and was held around his waist with a large red sash and a knot of rope, into which had been tucked a sheathed katana. He wore no shoes but rather had his feet and shins wrapped up in long strips of black cloth.

For a Yafutoman, the man was fairly well tanned. His thick black hair was tied back with a leather thong at the nape of his neck and several errant strands fell into his face. He had powerful, striking features, slightly weathered but still youthful, and Vyse realized that he couldn't have been more than thirty in age. As he studied the scene before him his dark eyes flickered between irritation and amusement, and finally he simply stared at the twins expectantly.

"Jao...Mao...what the hell is it this time? This had better be important if you're interrupting my meditation."

The twins hesitated, then bowed.

"Lord Daigo..."

"...these are the Westerners that dared to oppose us."

"They are trespassing..."

"...on our temple grounds."

"They are _not_ trespassing. Look over there, you fools." Daigo pointed past the agape Vyse to Aika and Fina, behind whom crouched Moegi. "That's my sister. She's the only person in the world who knows where this island is."

More silence from the twins. Reluctantly they turned and bowed to Moegi instead, apologizing to her in Yafutoman.

Vyse wasn't sure what stunned him more: the fact that this rangy looking man commanding the twins was Daigo, or the fact that he not only spoke fluent Meridian, but also gave orders to the Tenkou in it. As if completely oblivious to the bewildered Westerners in front of him, Daigo sat down on the temple steps and beckoned Moegi over, leaving Fina to translate their conversation in an almost dazed-sounding whisper.

"Moegi! I haven't seen you in moons and now you show up on my doorstep with Westerners!" He laughed. "What's the occasion? Has father changed his mind?"

"Well, uhm...Daigo..." Moegi swallowed thickly, then bowed her head. Daigo's mirthful expression suddenly fell, and he arched a brow warily.

"What? What's with that look? Did something happen to father?"

So Moegi recounted her tale of the arrival of the Valuans and the subsequent betrayal of Kangan and Muraji. As Daigo listened he grew more and more tense, until he looked ready to explode in rage.

"Kangan...that bastard! I should have beheaded him when I had the chance!"

"Daigo..."

"No...it's alright, Moegi. I already know what has to be done." Daigo frowned, but his face was set with determination. "All these years I've sat here waiting to make my move...and now is the time. I'm through with running and hiding." He lifted his gaze then and affixed it to Vyse, nodding to him respectfully. "Ever since the twins came home sulking in defeat, I've kept eyes on you. Thank you for saving my sister," he said in Meridian.

"She saved us! We wouldn't be here if not for her." But Vyse frowned then, eying the twins perched on either side of Daigo. "But I _would_ like to know how you know these two, and why you're here with them."

"Simple. They're my bodyguards." He laughed. "Who else do you know that has twin bodyguards?"

"Is this guy for real?" Aika murmured.

"I know he's a prince, like Enrique, but they act nothing alike..." Fina whispered.

Daigo suddenly turned grave. "In all seriousness, I am their leader. Jao, Mao, myself...we are all Tenkou. We are _ronin_, samurai with no master – and some would say no honor. In total, there are only forty-seven of us."

"Forty-seven?" Vyse put his hands on his hips. "But those two claimed you ruled the skies of Yafutoma unopposed!"

"And we do. There's a long story behind how the Tenkou and I came to be here." Daigo leaned forward at that, resting his forearms over his knees. "Several years ago, when I was still a boy, I used to go out sailing more than I took care of my responsibilities at home. Back then my teacher and mentor was a _daimyo_, or lord, named Asanoka, who was father's former advisor and whose duty was to tutor me and teach me how to fight. Kangan felt that my irresponsibility was due to Asanoka failing as a teacher, and openly mocked him and insulted him in public about it. Then one day, Asanoka could...simply take no more.

"Asanoka snapped and attacked Kangan with a dagger, trying to kill him. I was in the room at the time and tried to help my master, but the palace guards heard the commotion and stopped us. Kangan got away with an ugly scar, which he grew a beard to cover, but Asanoka was not so lucky. For attacking another noble and for blatant violence in the palace -- which is illegal -- he was executed. His family was stripped of its land and its honor, and his retainers, his samurai, were expected to commit _sepukku._ That is...ritual suicide."

Aika cringed.

"Kangan tried to convince my father that I needed to be killed for my crimes as well, but as much as I had shamed him, my father could not bring himself to order my death. Instead he sent me into exile and removed me as heir to the throne. I was not alone in my exile, however: forty-six of Asanoka's men refused to commit _sepukku_ and fled here with me, determined to one day avenge Asanoka and restore all of our honor. Since then we've been watching, waiting for the right time to strike back at Kangan. Sometimes we disguise ourselves as workmen and merchants, lingering about Yakaido to learn what we can of Kangan and the layout of his house. Other days we sail the skies and attack ships for food and supplies, and it is then we are known as the Tenkou. We know how to outwit Yakaido's navy because we were all once ourselves soldiers, and in my case I know how my father thinks. We can predict and counter anything and everything. Not one person has ever managed to sink a Tenkou ship."

"I was so upset that my father would send my older brother away..." Moegi said. "I would visit him whenever I could, and during those times Daigo told me of his adventures. When he first was exiled he welcomed the freedom, and sailed all around Yafutoma. Then one day he hit the Great Reef, and instead of letting that stop him, he simply flew over it. He told me of this amazing land he discovered, covered in trees and basking in the light of a green moon."

"That's Ixa'Taka!" Aika cried. "What did he do there?"

"I watched." Daigo tapped the side of one temple. "I realized there was some sort of war going on. The native people were trying to fight off men in iron ships, but they were completely outclassed. I wondered who these strange warlords were, and why they would use such brutal tactics on an obviously primitive people, so I lurked in the clouds above and below them and simply...watched. I must have followed them around for years, and during that time I picked up two languages from them: their native tongue, and a different, more complex dialect they called Meridian. So I brought both languages back with me and taught them to my men, so that we could communicate without fear of our plans being intercepted."

"I was so fascinated by Daigo's tales of the West that I made him teach me some too." Moegi beamed. "That is how I know some of your language."

"That's...wow." Vyse blinked, then chuckled despite himself. "That explains a _lot_. I'm sorry for not trusting you, Daigo."

Daigo dismissed the notion with the wave of one hand. "Don't worry about it. If I came up here and was greeted by the twins, I wouldn't trust me either. You have no idea how much it takes to reign them in sometimes. Ahahaha!"

The twins grunted in response to that.

"But come! Come. There is so much to do, and painfully little time to do it." Daigo stood, straightening his robes. "Jao, I need you to light the signal fire and bring our ships in. Mao, try to reach the southern fire if you can and light that as well. Fly low; they'll be looking for us."

The twins bowed and then vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Showoffs..." Daigo muttered.

The temple was not as simple as it appeared from the outside. It actually gave way to several underground passages that wove their way deeper into the island, and it was here that the true Tenkou base lie. It was a strange blend of cultures, a mix of air pirate equipment and decorations left by the ancient Monks of the Blue Moon, all of which were dimly lit by natural fire torches. Vyse was amazed at everything Daigo had collected in his travels, from Ixa'Takan spears to Valuan guns to ship parts that had no doubt been flung from the Dark Rift. Ancient manuscripts and tapestries had been salvaged from the temple and hung from the wall, depicting the world as it was in ancient days. Vyse was captivated by the heavily stylized art, which showed Yafutomans dressed in silk robes more elaborate than even Lord Mikado's, interacting with Silvites and people who looked similar to the art in the Temple of Pyrynn. He couldn't identify the others in the pictures, but had a feeling they were each from the remaining Moon Kingdoms.

Despite the random hodgepodge of objects, however, the Tenkou were as clean and orderly as any formal soldiers, and religion was obviously important to them. Just as frequent as the Old World scriptures were Aoikaze figures and a pair of idols, which he guessed were gods of some sort. A small shrine had been set aside for them to worship at, and a few of them knelt in prayer as they entered. The other Tenkou were scattered about among various activities, from chores to drinking to practicing their strange form of martial arts.

"Everybody, listen up!" Daigo called, his voice quickly silencing the room. "The Westerners have turned up on our island, as you can see, and they've brought dire news with them. Yafutoma has been invaded, and our king taken prisoner."

The room erupted into a din of disturbed voices, but Daigo raised a hand to silence them.

"That's not the worst of it."

The Tenkou fell quiet.

"Yakaido's fall was due entirely to Kangan betraying us and handing our country over to the enemy."

The room positively exploded.

Vyse was taken-aback. While he expected the Tenkou to be outraged, he didn't expect them to show a downright violent anger. Fina and Moegi recoiled behind him in fear, and he exchanged glances with Daigo, who only shrugged.

"We can't say we didn't see something like this coming, but it's unpleasant nevertheless," Daigo said. "Kangan spent years trying to get rid of Asanoka in order to become my father's advisor, and with me out of the way as well he actually had a shot at the throne. This was his opportunity...but it is ours as well."

"But what do we do?" Vyse asked. "The Valuans brought well over a hundred ships with them. How many do you have?"

"Heh. Nine. And they're all very small." Daigo quirked a lopsided grin. "But don't worry. We aren't the world's only _ronin_, and there's countless _shinobi_ – ninja, assassins, whatever you want to call them – out looking for a job as well. The signal fires should bring in our wandering allies, wherever they've gotten off to."

Aika gawked. "This is outright civil war!"

"Yep." Daigo frowned, watching his men as their burning rage simmered to a bitter stewing over Kangan's betrayal. "But no matter how far one lives from his country, he never forgets his love for it. We may be outcasts, but we're still _Yafujin._ And nobody else is left to take Yafutoma back from the Valuans."

"I know how that feels." Enrique took his turn to frown, slowly shaking his head. "I miss Valua. I love Valua. But I cannot go back. Even worse is the fact that my mother sent these ships, these people here to conquer yours. Please, Daigo – ask me anything. I can tell you everything about how the Armada operates, what their ships are capable of, and who is leading them. It is my duty to set this straight and force Valua back onto the right course. From one exiled prince to another...let me help you."

"Prince Enrique, I understand," Daigo replied. "You're an honorable man...far more honorable than I. If one such as yourself were to be by my sister's side, I could rest easy at night."

Enrique and Moegi stared at him, completely abashed. The Tenkou lord only burst into laughter.

"And from the looks of things, you wouldn't mind either! Ah well...enough chit chat! Shinji! Take half our men and round up all our supplies. Weapons, armor, food, whatever...bring it out and split it up. Kasuke, take the other half and prepare the ships. Load them with whatever spare ammunition and gunpowder we have, and make sure everything's in top shape. Hanuchi, you stay here with me and help me draw out some maps and some battle plans. We've got about four days to plan and stage an attack before things start to get really messy. Westerners, you stay here too. Everything you know about the Armada, we need to know too. Hopefully we'll have something devised by the time our reinforcements have arrived."

* * *

Vigoro yawned mightily as he slouched in his captain's chair, the constant vibrations of the ship beneath him lulling him into a half-slumber. Outside through the windows, the view was all the same: blue, blue, and more blue, and if they were lucky they might see some green grass when they passed near an island.

Overall the third admiral found Yafutoma to be a thoroughly boring country. Not only was it all the same color, but the people were more dull than one of DeLoco's science lectures. The women were all quiet and demure and he couldn't find a single man to pick a fight with. Vigoro was thoroughly disappointed.

For the past four days Belleza had kept him patrolling Yakaido and Mount Kazai, and occasionally she would join him, but for the most part she stayed within Yafutoma's capital to crush the seeds of rebellion before they could grow. Some people had taken their side but most seemed unhappy with the Valuan occupation and several had tried to leave. It was therefore _his_ job to make sure nothing entered or left the harbor, and so far nothing had tried after he shot his first ship down. In particular Belleza was paranoid about Vyse, who had apparently escaped somehow and ran off to parts unknown with the Princess. That part in particular made the admiral stew; Vyse not only had a beautiful woman and a Silvite to dangle from each arm, but now he had the Princess of Yafutoma as well! How did he do it?

"Admiral Vigoro, sir?"

Vigoro cracked an eye open, staring at his vice captain apathetically.

"Sir, something strange has turned up on the radar. We thought you might like to see it."

"This better be interesting, Horatio," he replied, hefting himself up out of his chair and stretching. "Well? What is it?"

Horatio led him over to the navigation console, where he found the radar screen to be littered with dozens of small green and yellow dots. Though his vice captain gestured to it expectantly, Vigoro only eyed the screen and frowned.

"I see...lots of dots. Is that normal?"

"Uh...somewhat, sir. The green dots are good. Those are our ships."

"And the yellow dots?"

"Those are bad, sir."

"Oh. Alright." Vigoro folded his thick arms across his chest. "What's so bad about them?"

"Those are other ships, sir. Or, they should be." Horatio fidgeted nervously. "According to the radar they should be sailing right next to us. But as you can see, there's nothing outside. There's nothing anywhere."

Vigoro scowled lightly. "You woke me up for that? They're probably just...birds or something."

"I-I'm terribly sorry, sir. It is entirely possible that the equipment is malfunctioning," Horatio replied.

"Pff."

"_Hey, big guy. You there?_" came a sudden, familiar voice over the radio. Arching a brow, Vigoro strode over to the helm and picked it up.

"What's happenin', gorgeous?"

"_We appear to be having trouble with our radar, and the _Delphinus_ is reporting the same. It says there's ships on us, but I don't see a thing. Is your radar behaving?"_

"Nope. There's a bunch of yellow dots...and stuff," he replied. "Who broke it?"

Belleza sighed, although there was an edge of amusement in her voice. _"I don't think anyone broke it, you lummox. Something must be throwing it off. Perhaps we're too close to the Dark--"_

And suddenly all hell broke loose.

It was far more than Vigoro could hope to comprehend. Swarms of small wooden ships suddenly dropped from the sky, appearing beside each of the Valuan vessels in the span of mere heartbeats. The very air shook as they fired almost completely in unison, filling the sky with multicolored clouds of moonstone dust and azure tongues of flame. His entire crew was knocked to the floor as his ship was bombarded from point-blank range, and he roared at them to return fire from all available cannons.

It took several minutes for the Armada to recover, and by then a few of their smaller vessels had already sank. He heard Belleza shouting repeatedly over the radio to return fire, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a huge blossom of flame as the _Lynx_ took out several ships at once. Vigoro dragged himself to the helm and gazed out the window to assess the situation, quickly picking out vulnerable targets and filing them away in his mind.

"Turn thirty degrees to port! Enemy ships at eight o'clock and ten o'clock! Open fire!" he cried.

The _Draco_ listed slightly and turned, swinging around on the unsuspecting vessels. Vigoro grinned wickedly as he trained the ship's cannons on them and fired, and they splintered into a thousand pieces as the shells hit, sending their crews tumbling into the water below. A third vessel appeared beneath them and caught a few, but the others could not be spared from their fates.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" he whooped. "Finally, some action!"

The Armada was unshakable, and the enemy Yafutoman ships had to pull back from point blank range. Vigoro realized that they were little more than sailing junkers outfitted with cannons, but they were blindingly fast and packed enough firepower to cause significant damage if the Armada didn't keep them pinned down. Both sides exchanged rapid volleys, but both continuously missed due to the speed at which the Yafutomans were forced to fly.

"_Stay in formation!"_ Belleza called over the radio. _"Aim high and fire torpedoes! Root them out but do not give chase. I repeat, do not give chase!"_

"I don't have to give chase." Vigoro laughed and swung the ship around again, leveling the bow with a line of Yafutoman ships in the distance. "Load the Draco Cannon! Fire at will!"

Mounted on the front of his ship was his pride and joy: an enormous cannon that fired shells as big as lifeboats. It packed enough firepower to go through several ships without stopping, and that was the plan; the_ Draco _bellowed furiously and the bow lit up with a tremendous blossom of smoke and flame as it let loose, skittering backwards from the recoil. The shell arced through the sky like a blazing comet, splintering two ships, then a third, a fourth, a fifth and a sixth. The admiral laughed as he played "connect-the-dots" on his radar, watching as black-clad men rained from the sky and plummeted helplessly into the sea below.

The Yafutoman ships darted about like insects, stinging quickly and then running away. Two light vessels buzzed by him, pumping a few shots into the _Draco_'s side before vanishing back into the clouds. Vigoro tried to track them but failed without any moving turrets mounted on his ship, and they were lost before he could even blink.

As the next wave fell upon the Armada, Vigoro aimed farther ahead. Still they were too fast, and his shots missed and hit a nearby destroyer, crippling it entirely. The admiral swore loudly, completely drowning out Belleza's admonishing remarks over the radio.

"Aw, to hell with this! Fire torpedoes!"

"_Vigoro, watch yourself! Fireships at four o' clock!"_

"What?" Vigoro pulled the _Draco _away just as an explosion sent the stern fishtailing out from under them. An unmanned ship had detonated from behind, and more were drifting into the heart of the Armada's closely-knit formation. Some where lit on fire, but others were packed with so many explosives that they were literally spilling out the windows and onto the deck. A few ships were circling high overhead, shooting flaming arrows at them when they got close to large clusters of Armada vessels. The resulting explosions were enough to sink several ships at once, and Vigoro watched as several battle cruisers capsized.

"_Get away from the fireships! Shoot them down when they're out in the open!"_ Belleza ordered. _"Do not break formation more than you have to! That's what they're trying to force us to do!"_

"Oh, it's on now, you bastards," Vigoro cracked his knuckles. "You wanna fight dirty? Then let's fight dirty. Reload the Draco Cannon! We can make big explosions on our own!"

* * *

"Kasuke. What do you have to report?"

"It's not looking any better, Lord Daigo." The black-clad man bowed. "Our ships are faster and more maneuverable, but try as we may we cannot break the Armada's lines. Their commander is exceptionally clever."

"As Vyse said." Daigo frowned, rubbing the stubble on his chin musingly. "This stalemate has lasted a day already...we can't keep up like this. Do you have anything else to report?"

"We're being forced to keep our distance." Kasuke bowed his head. "There's two ships in the fleet with unimaginably large cannons. If we get too close together, they fire the cannons at us and decimate our ships."

"Wait, did you say two?" Vyse asked, staring at him. "I saw the loud one. What's the other?"

"It's the largest ship in the fleet that our scouts have found, Lord Vyse," Kasuke replied. "There is a weapon in its bow like none we have ever seen before. It literally melts us."

Vyse started. "That's the _Delphinus_! Oh, now it's personal. Nobody commandeers my ship!"

"_That's_ your ship?" Daigo stared at him. "...Well then who the hell is piloting it now?"

"Heh. I don't know, but they're doing a crappy job." Vyse grinned wryly. "I know what the _Delphinus_ can do, and they're not using its full potential. Daigo, if you can just get us close enough to board the ship, we can take it back and win this!"

"You heard the man. Turn around! Drop in on the _Delphinus_ like Jao and Mao did." Daigo glanced at Vyse wryly as his crewmen scattered to comply, turning his ship in a complete about-face. "Heh...I hope you know what you're doing. We only get one shot."

"Hey, we're air pirates, remember? We do this kind of stuff all the time," Vyse replied.

"Heh! Fair enough." Daigo grinned. "We're counting on you, captain. Kasuke! Signal the nearest ships, tell them we'll be needing cover."

Vyse hurried below deck to where Aika, Fina and Enrique were and gave them the news. Scrambling to don their equipment, they joined him back on deck and glued themselves to the railing, watching anxiously as the familiar shape of the _Delphinus_ drew ever closer below the clouds. When at last they were hovering above it, several ships dropped altitude ahead of them, spilling barrels that exploded in plumes of chalky smoke. The_ Delphinus_ was quickly swallowed in the clouds, strangled away from its nearby companions, and forced to come to a dead stop.

Sufficiently cloaked by the smokescreen, Daigo dropped his ship and landed beside the _Delphinus_ haphazardly, pulling up at the last minute as he nearly settled on top of it. The _Delphinus_ suddenly pitched and tried to power its way out of the smoke, and he struggled to correct his ship before the two collided, nearly dislodging them from the deck in the process.

"This is as close as I'm going to get, Vyse!" he called.

Vyse grit his teeth. It was a good several feet down to the_ Delphinus_' deck, enough to injure them if they fell the wrong way. "We'll have to jump!"

"Jump?" Fina sounded frightened.

Vyse only grinned, tugging the Silvite close against his side. "Don't worry, Fina. I've got you."

Fina smiled, holding on to him tightly, and as one they leapt for the ship below. Vyse heard Enrique give a loud cry behind him, and as he and Fina neatly landed the prince wasn't far behind, tumbling unceremoniously to the deck with Aika grinning evilly over his crumpled form.

"You're terrible, you know that?"

"He's a weenie," Aika declared.

The _Delphinus_ was a little worse for wear. Not realizing who the ship belonged to, the Tenkou had not spared it from the same barrage they assaulted the rest of the Armada with – or rather, whoever the captain was was terrible at dodging and countering it. Several explosions had blown holes in the deck, and cannonballs had embedded themselves in numerous places, including dangerously near to the living quarters. There weren't any breaches that he could see but some smoke or steam – he wasn't sure – snaked out of a few of the ship's wounds, quickly blown away on the wind.

An alarm began to sound from somewhere inside. Vyse realized they'd been spotted and the crew had likely called for reinforcements. A cruiser dropped down beside them with Valuan soldiers gathered out on deck, leveling rifles at the four of them, but suddenly a streak of blue fell from the sky and struck them down in a blur of silver sword strikes. His work done, Daigo sprang from the edge of the ship and landed on his waiting vessel below, and the cruiser detonated behind him shortly after.

"He's covering us! Let's go while we still can!" Vyse cried.

Vyse kicked the door in right as several Yafutoman soldiers arrived to lock it. As they stumbled back, the rogue wasted no time in attacking, striking each down with a few carefully aimed blows to the stomach and side. Hastily, they pulled the bodies of the crumpled soldiers out of the way and then rushed inside, closing and locking the door behind them.

The alarm was still blaring throughout the ship, and other guards were waiting for them. As they emerged on the foyer of the second deck, men wearing the uniform of Belleza's Red Guard came storming down the stairs, armed with shortswords and rapiers. Vyse headed the first of them off, disarming two as Ryu-kan had taught him to do and backing a third into a corner. Behind him, several guards fell to the ground in a loud clanking of armor as Fina forced them asleep, and Aika froze two to the wall, stealing their weapons to use against their brethren. In tandem he and Aika struck the remaining stragglers down, but as he turned he was surprised to find Enrique pushing back the apparent reinforcements, forcing them back up the stairs with a flurry of pinpoint sword strikes.

It was as if the prince was a different person, as if he had no fear. He seemed to know the weakness in each man's armor, regardless of if they were Yafutoman or Valuan. A few quick stabs was all it took to send his adversaries tumbling down the stairs, and he stepped over them and pressed on without pausing, dodging and parrying everything sent his way.

"Enrique!" Vyse called.

"I know who's piloting the ship!" he called back down. "Get up here! Come on!"

Vyse and the girls rushed up the stairs just as Enrique burst the lock on the bridge door with yellow magic and elbowed his way inside. A familiar-sounding yelp heralded his appearance, and they ran onto the bridge to find Muraji huddled into a corner with some samurai and a few Valuan guards. To no surprise, Muraji had placed the guards between himself and the Valuan prince, who began to speak to him in Yafutoman.

"Do you know whose ship this is?"

Muraji shook his head weakly.

"It's MY ship."

Muraji cringed away.

"Order your guards to stand down." Then, in Valuan to the Red Guard, "Stand down."

"Prince Enrique..." The captain of the guard bowed his head. "We surrender. Please don't kill us, Your Highness!"

"I wouldn't dream of it. But you _are_ being taken prisoner." Frowning, Enrique strode over to the radio, which was abuzz with ship communications and Belleza's commanding voice, and began to listen in on it. "Fina, freeze these...gentlemen...somewhere out of the way. Aika, go up to the lookout tower and signal the Tenkou. Let them know we've secured the _Delphinus_. Vyse, take the wheel and get us out of here."

"Heh. Aye aye, Your Highness," Vyse replied, sheathing his blades.

It felt good to take the wheel of the _Delphinus_ again after so long. Vyse could feel the change in her speed and responsiveness as he pulled her up and away from the rest of the Valuan fleet; she flowed like water beneath him, seamless and smooth. Beside him, Enrique finally picked up the radio and fiddled with it for a moment before speaking.

"Belleza. Do you copy?"

There came a long pause on the other end. "..._Prince Enrique?"_

The radio fell silent. All communication between the Armada ships ceased.

"Belleza, I order you to cease fire immediately."

"_I...can't do that, my Prince. I am under direct orders from Galcian and your mother to take Yafutoma for Valua."_

"I know you do not like to waste lives, Belleza. You realize I'm on board the _Delphinus_ now, right? You saw what it did to Uncle Gregorio. If you do not cease fire, we will attack...and this time we'll actually use the moonstone cannon."

Belleza was quiet for a painfully long time. _"Prince Enrique, I...Vigoro! What are you doing? Stop that at once!"_

"_Hey, Vyse!"_ came a new voice over the radio. _"My cannon's bigger than yours! Hahaha!"_

"Vyse!" Aika came clambering down noisily from the lookout tower, her eyes wide. "There's a ship with a huge cannon headed our way! And there's something about it...that disgusts me..."

Vyse stared out the window, frowning. While many of the ships had retreated from the _Delphinus_ upon Enrique's threat to open fire, a large blue ship had decided to sail straight in their direction instead. It was a long and heavy vessel, nearly equal to the _Delphinus_ in sheer size and mass, with more guns mounted on it than Vyse could count. It had no mounted turrets, instead using the reinforced bow and the entire deck of the ship to support an immense cannon big enough around for a lifeboat to sail into. Vyse could see several crewmembers out on deck, scrambling to load it using an elevator and a series of cranes.

"I don't believe it. He's actually going to try and shoot us with that thing." Enrique shook his head ruefully.

"Who is that?" Aika asked.

"That's the _Draco_," Enrique replied. "It's Vigoro's flagship."

"Agh! What the hell?" Aika facefaulted. "Talk about compensating! That guy's got a complex."

"We may have the offense of a Gigas, but I know we certainly don't have the defense." Vyse frowned. "I bet that thing could still rip us in two."

"I don't doubt it. It packs more of a punch than a harpoon cannon." Enrique placed a hand on one hip, frowning thoughtfully. "Unfortunately for him he has to stay perfectly still in order to fire it. We can just move."

"I've got a better idea." Vyse reached over for the large, ornate lever on the console, earning a chorus of gasps from his companions.

"N-now wait a minute, Vyse..." Aika said. "I hate the guy, but that's a bit much, don't you think?"

"Relax," he replied. "I'm not aiming to kill. It should be just enough show of force to convince Belleza to retreat."

"Vyse...be careful..." Fina said, quietly.

Vyse watched and waited, following the actions of Vigoro's crew through his goggle. When they had finished loading the cannon and were scrambling back below the deck, he pulled the lever down halfway and carefully nudged the bow of the _Delphinus_ upwards, inch by inch.

"_Vigoro! GET OUT OF THERE!"_ Belleza screamed over the radio.

The bow of the _Delphinus _folded away and the ship began to hum steadily as it gathered power. Vyse watched carefully as a pulsing light swelled below them, sending raw energy crackling up the ship's body as far as the deck. The glaring pink light filled his entire field of vision, shading the windows and blotting out the sky. He raised a hand to shield his eyes and squinted through it, just able to make out the shape of the _Draco_ straight ahead of them.

"_Bring it on!"_ Vigoro taunted. _"Take this!"_

"Fire!" Vyse cried.

Vyse threw the lever down as soon as he heard the _Draco_ open fire. The energy gathered on the _Delphinus_' bow blossomed and spiraled outward faster than the eye could follow, completely incinerating Vigoro's shot and continuing on to clip the top of the _Draco_ and rip it right off. The rogue watched in satisfaction as the cannon on the front melted away and the lookout tower was neatly shorn from the top of the ship, leaving the bridge exposed to open sky. When the light faded and a relative calm settled in again, the _Draco_ was left looking like a candle that had been burning for hours.

Vyse snatched the radio away from a startled looking Enrique. "The next shot won't miss!"

The only thing that came from the other end was silence, broken only by a maniacal laughter from behind him. Frowning, Vyse turned to eye a very amused looking Muraji, whose gaze was glued on the northern horizon.

"What's so funny?" he demanded.

Fina translated his question.

"My father was right about you Westerners," Muraji replied.

"How's that?" Enrique asked.

Muraji smirked. "He said you would be so caught up in your petty politics that you would forget about the Maga Sphere."

Vyse frowned. "We haven't forgotten. Why do you think we're trying to force the Armada to surrender? Belleza has it, doesn't she?"

"Hohohoho!" Muraji tittered and pointed out the window.

Vyse slowly turned and followed Muraji's finger to where it was pointing. To their north and east was Mount Kazai, and it had almost literally come alive, erupting with a solid beam of blue light that pierced through the clouds. A large form blotted part of it out, silhouetted against such brilliance, and was swiftly drawing near.

"..."

"No..." Fina whispered. "He couldn't have..."

"Father commands the Blue Winds!" Muraji crowed. "At last we'll be rid of both you Westerners AND the Tenkou!"

"Aika! Get back up there and signal the Tenkou!" Vyse cried. "Tell them to retreat into Upper Sky!"

Aika nodded and scrambled back out the door.

Vyse pulled the _Delphinus_ up and turned her away, straining to put as much distance between himself and the Armada as he could. He watched tensely as the shape in the distance steadily grew larger and began to take on distinction, and he was disturbed that it was moving so fast. Mount Kazai was hours away! How long had it been flying towards them?

"Dammit. What are we going to do about that thing?" he asked. "Is the _Delphinus_ powerful enough to hurt a Gigas?"

"According to DeLoco's calculations, yes," Enrique said. "But there's the issue of..."

"I know. No crew." Vyse grit his teeth. "Well, Muraji had someone manning this ship. We can't have killed all of them. I'm sure they'll be willing to comply if they know a giant, sentient weapon of mass destruction is about to send them falling to their doom."

Fina turned and asked something of Muraji. When he didn't reply, Enrique yelled at him and he flinched fearfully, murmuring.

"Vyse! He says they've been keeping our crew prisoner on board the ship!" Fina exclaimed. "All of them were on board when they captured it, and they had no other place to hold them!"

"Fina, Enrique, hurry down there and help them out. I'm going to pull the _Delphinus_ as far away as I can from the Armada, because I'm sure they're what the Gigas is after," Vyse said. "I don't think we've got much time. That thing's moving amazingly fast."

"Oh...I hope they're all safe..." Fina hurried with Enrique towards the door, then paused and gazed at Vyse worriedly. "Vyse...Bluheim _is_ the wind. Do not expect any control over her." And with that she vanished down the hall.

"_Vyse. Is that what I think it is?_" came Belleza's voice at last over the radio.

"Kangan summoned her," Vyse replied. "He double-crosses everyone, looks like. Get your fleet out of here; we're going to try to confront her."

"_You really are crazy."_ Belleza's voice was both chiding and affectionate. _"But I would be too if I didn't help you fight that thing. I've called for a temporary cease fire; this threatens all our lives."_

By now he could see Bluheim in full detail. The Gigas was an enormous bird the color of the sky, perfectly identical to the pictures he had seen of it in Yakaido. She had a long, slender neck and an equally slim body, and was trailed by a fan of long, wispy tailfeathers wide enough to land several ships on. The curious thing about her was that she seemed a strange cross between a bird and a butterfly; half of her wings were feathers while the other half was formed of gossamer wingsails, a translucent material that shimmered in every color imaginable. Similar strands fanned out with her tailfeathers, trailing behind her like long, colorful ribbons, and adorned her head in a magnificent crest. Like the other Gigas, she was covered in a strange latticework of golden circuit lines, bizarre tattoos that marred an otherwise beautiful creature.

Fina and Enrique returned just as Bluheim got in range of the Armada's cannons. Vyse heard Belleza give the order to fire and the remaining ships sent multiple volleys out, filling the skies with blazing fireballs and streaks of white clouds. Numerous lucky shots hit their marks and blossomed against Bluheim in small rosettes of flame, but most missed entirely, unable to keep up with the impossibly agile creature. The Gigas cried out over her wounds, her voice so hauntingly melodic that it sounded sorrowful, and for a few seconds Vyse almost felt sorry for her.

But Bluheim was anything but sad. Her eyes began to blaze red, and somehow she picked up speed, becoming little more than a blue streak across the sky. Vyse watched in horror as she plunged through the ranks of the Armada, slicing between ships like a keen-edged blade and leaving hurricane-force winds in her wake. Vyse couldn't tell what she hit and what she didn't, but several ships exploded behind her.

Bluheim circled and dove again, knocking the ships out of the sky as if they were mere toys. Belleza landed a telling blow to her underside and she wobbled unstably for a moment, hovering in front of the broken ships critically. With a defiant cry, she began to beat her wings in slow, powerful strokes, her body crackling with energy much the same way the moonstone cannon did. The Armada was too scattered to fire upon her again.

"Fina...what's she doing?" Vyse asked.

"I-I don't know," the Silvite replied, "but it can't be good."

The sky in front of Bluheim began to change. The clouds were blown away and the sea rose and fell below in enormous crushing waves. Vyse realized that she was controlling the wind, bending it to her will; the Armada ships fought against it, trembled and staggered, but finally lost all control and were pitched back helplessly. Several ships slammed into each other and either tied into knots or outright exploded. The rogue watched, frozen, as they were swiftly catapulted out of sight, vanishing on the southern horizon in a cloud of smoke and debris.

"Vyse, shoot her."

"What?" Vyse was dumbstruck that Fina would ever utter such words.

"Look. She's tired." Fina pointed out the window to where Bluheim hovered in place, her chest rising and falling in large, breathless heaves as she stared after the Armada. "Now's our chance to hit her with the moonstone cannon. We can't afford to play around with this one like we did Recumen and Grendel."

Vyse nodded and threw the switch, watching tensely as the cannon extended from the bow of the _Delphinus_ once again and began to charge. But Fina was right: Bluheim didn't realize she was in danger, didn't realize she was being watched by a vessel she had missed. She finally turned right as the moonstone cannon fired, and her cry pierced the air as it caught her straight in the chest. The force of the blow was barely enough to push her back, but feathers went flying off in all directions and momentarily clouded their vision as much as the burst of energy did.

When it cleared, they found an enraged Gigas in their face.

"Holy crap!" Vyse cried, sending the _Delphinus_ into a steep dive to escape Bluheim's talons. "How does something so big move so fast?! Did that even do anything to her?"

"Pull up, Vyse! She's coming back!" Aika warned.

Vyse grit his teeth and threw the ship up and to the side, feeling it jump lightly as a wing clipped it.

"It's like I told the Empress...only a Gigas can kill another Gigas," Fina said, clasping her hands over her chest. "But this ship essentially _is_ a Gigas. Look at where we hit her. That's far more damage than the _Little Jack_ ever could have done. I think we stand a chance."

As Bluheim overshot them and turned on a wingtip to make another pass, Vyse gazed out at her. A smoldering black burn marred the skin of her chest, having singed away all the feathers there and "broken" the circuit lines crossing over it. He drifted the _Delphinus_ out of the way again, sending her soaring right over them, and swallowed thickly. Nothing had survived the moonstone cannon before...but he supposed it made sense that a Gigas could take more than one hit.

"What are you staring at, guys? C'mon! Battlestations! Get Khazim's men on the turrets right away!"

"Aye aye!"

"Heh. Now this is more like it!" Aika said, and began relaying orders down into the cannon room.

Vyse turned the _Delphinus_ and tried to match flight speed with Bluheim, occasionally sparing a glance down at the moonstone cannon's gage to check its power. She had calmed somewhat and slowed, and for a moment the two soared side-by-side. On cue every turret on the ship trained itself on to her and fired into her side, and she swatted the ship away with a wing as she cried out in pain, nearly capsizing it.

Vyse corrected the ship and drifted it away, gliding into the cover of the clouds. When they emerged he found himself slightly over Bluheim and he angled the ship down, scoring a few shots to her back and shoulders. Each hit opened up considerable wounds, but it gave their position away; the Gigas suddenly performed a backflip and landed atop the _Delphinus_, grasping a turret in each claw and ripping them clean off the ship in a shower of electrical sparks. Thinking fast, Aika launched torpedoes right underneath her and pried her from the ship with the resulting explosion.

"Moons!" he cried. "Which guns were those? How many do we have left?"

"Main cannon two and secondary three are gone," she replied, after a moment. "We still have six left."

With a frustrated cry, the Gigas threw both of the guns back down at them. Khazim managed to shoot one down and Vyse dodged the other, pursuing Bluheim as she rolled off into the clouds. They swallowed the forms of both eagerly, and were thicker than Vyse realized; for several long moments they soared through a tunnel of gray and white before emerging over Yakaido Island, out in the open. Bluheim was nowhere to be seen.

A bit frantic, Vyse scanned the sky in all directions, but the Gigas seemed to have simply vanished. The radar began to beep loudly and Fina cried out a warning, and he turned the _Delphinus_ just in time to see Bluheim emerge from the clouds and dive straight at them, her entire body crackling with blue energy. She soared right over the ship and for a heartbeat Vyse thought she had missed, but suddenly the _Delphinus_ was snared in a tumultuous electrical storm that shook it to its very core and blinded them with its intensity. A loud pop came from somewhere below, and abruptly all in the _Delphinus_ became dark.

"Navigation is down!" Fina cried.

"So are the guns. Khazim can't fire!" Aika shook her head bewilderedly. "Where'd our electricity go?"

"Damn. She blew a fuse somewhere." Enrique rolled up his sleeves and hurried for the door. "I'll get Brabham and Hans and try to get things back online. Wish us luck!"

The _Delphinus_ was completely defenseless, and it left a bitter taste in Vyse's mouth. As Bluheim materialized from the clouds again and dropped at them, he pulled the ship away and shot off at full speed, trying to put distance between the_ Delphinus _and the Gigas. She turned on a wingtip and was right on their stern, forcing him to stall the ship and make her overshoot. Instead she began to fly in dizzying circles around them, taking claw swipes with each pass she made. Vyse sent the ship into so tight a turn to avoid her that it nearly rolled over, and he heard several things – and people – crash below deck. Their temporary prisoners cried out in alarm.

Blasting off at full speed again, Vyse dove into the clouds, knowing full well that Bluheim was right behind him. They burst from one formation and he banked into the next, watching the bird's reflection in the polished steel deck as it flew just above them. Beating her powerful wings, she picked up a burst of speed and tried to overtake them, but he pulled up and sought cover in the next cloud formation, pulling it over the _Delphinus_ like a protective blanket. Abruptly he turned and shot out of it, leaving the Gigas to continue climbing into Upper Sky.

At the apex of her flight, Bluheim folded her wings and plunged like an arrow straight towards them, diving so fast that she split the clouds in two. Vyse stopped the _Delphinus_ dead in its tracks and watched wide-eyed as a blue streak shot down mere inches from the bow, leaving enough wind in its wake to send the ship spiraling out of control. As Bluheim tried to right herself again, he steadied the _Delphinus_, turned and shot off in the other direction, forcing her to climb again in order to keep up. Unlike the Gigas, however, the _Delphinus_ was tireless, and lost no speed as Vyse made another hairpin turn and ducked away into the clouds.

But adrenaline was what fueled the Gigas now, and she was in no mood to give up on her prey. As the _Delphinus_ emerged and became visible again, she caught an updraft and angled sharply upwards, once again on the flagship's tail. Vyse flinched as a ray of blue light went streaking by them, missing the _Delphinus_ by mere inches, and began to weave the ship to make sure she couldn't attack them again.

Just then, however, the lights blinked back on, and Fina gave a surprised cry as the navigation console lit up before her once again. Vyse quickly reached for the radio and changed the frequency so that it only broadcasted to the rest of the ship, eying the deck as Bluheim's shadow fell over it.

"Everybody, strap yourself down to something!" he said. "Make sure you're nowhere near anything heavy. It's going to take some crazy flying to shake the Gigas off of us and things are going to get messy below deck. Khazim, strap yourself and your men to the guns. Be prepared to fire as soon as we level out."

"_Har! No problem there, captain!"_ a gruff voice replied.

Vyse unbuckled his belt and looped it around a nearby pipe that protected a few electrical wires. Suddenly grateful that he had favored his normal sailing clothes over his Yafutoman _kamishimo_ the day they had been forced to flee, he buckled it back around his waist securely and glanced at the others to make sure they were steady as well. Aika had similarly strapped herself to something and Fina was somehow levitating, and for him that was good enough.

"Hold on tight!"

Vyse could count the distance between the _Delphinus_ and Bluheim in feet. Pulling in a deep breath, he suddenly dropped the bow and sent the ship into an almost vertical plunge, wincing inwardly as he heard several things tumble and crash below. He felt his stomach spring up into his throat, and clung to the wheel as the force of the _Delphinus_' nosedive threatened to pry him away. His belt quickly tethered him back, and he steadied the ship as it punched through layer after layer of clouds, finally re-emerging into open sky.

The ocean opened up below them in a glittering spread of blue, and Yakaido Island floated on it as a blurred mat of green and yellow. The land spun beneath them dizzyingly and he forced himself to ignore it, instead focusing on the ocean as the churning waters became more distinct. Soon he could see whitecaps on the waves, and knew he was drawing dangerously close, but he could see Bluheim's shadow cast over the _Delphinus_' on the waters and also knew that his reckless dive hadn't been enough to shake her off.

"Vyse! What are you doing?" Aika cried.

"Just a few more seconds...a little more..." he replied, gritting his teeth.

Right before the _Delphinus_ hit the water, Vyse pulled it up and leveled it out. The pectoral wings caught the surface and it skipped a bit, and he wrestled with the wheel to keep it steady. But Bluheim's size lent to her momentum, and she could not stop so easily. Catching a wingtip in the water, she faltered and tumbled out of control, flailing to keep herself from sinking beneath the waves.

Vyse wasn't going to give her a chance to recover. Reaching out, he threw down the lever and fired the moonstone cannon again, and the waters reflected the energy blast in a blinding pink glare. The Gigas gave a tormented cry and thrashed about, and when the light had cleared he saw her slip beneath the surface.

Vyse, Aika, and Fina were glued to the window, watching the torrent of bubbles that rose in the wake of the sinking Gigas. Enrique at last clambered back to the bridge and joined them, eyes wide.

"Was that it? Did we get her?" he asked.

"I don't think so..." Fina replied, clasping her hands over her chest. "Remember...water is her element as well."

Sure enough, the waters began to stir. A whirlpool formed beneath them, and from its depths emerged Bluheim in a sparkling burst of sea spray. Vyse immediately fired on her, striking her several times in the chest and wings and shredding her gossamer wingsails. She returned by opening her beak and blasting the _Delphinus_ with another blue ray, which hit it with enough force to rip off the steel plating in parts of the hull.

She fired again, and Vyse returned with cannon shots to keep her away. He circled wide around her but she turned with him, trying to get back behind the _Delphinus_ instead. Vyse lifted the ship but she only rose with him, and abruptly he sent it into a climb nearly as sharp as his dive had been. He felt his feet slip out from under him and scrambled to stay braced against the helm, hanging on only by his belt and the ship's wheel.

Bluheim matched him move for move, and together the two spiraled upwards into the clouds. Vyse pushed the _Delphinus_ as fast as it could go, feeling his heart race as they approached the lid of clouds that marked the beginnings of Upper Sky. He could feel his ears popping and the air growing thinner, and far below Yakaido had lost all detail. But still he pressed the ship onwards, watching the Gigas critically, trying to find a break in her defenses.

Bluheim's wingbeats grew heavy and fatigued. Her powdery blue feathers were drenched in blood and water, and her whole body smoldered with various wounds. Many cannonballs were still buried deep into her muscles, and the moonstone cannon had left grisly wounds that had literally burned away flesh and bone. What once had been a beautiful, graceful, awe-inspiring creature now looked like the monster she was created to be.

"Vyse, even with this new engine, we can only go so high," Fina warned. "I can feel the ship slowing. We're going to stall soon."

"If that happens, we'll be sitting koketta." Enrique clenched his jaw, staring out the window at the Gigas. "We've got to find an opening."

The ship rocked violently as an explosion shook it. Bluheim had found one instead.

"Vyse! She's attacking the hull!" Aika exclaimed. "We've got a breach! We've got several breaches!"

"_Captain!"_ came Hans' voice over the radio, over a jumbled din of panicked voices. _"We've got a fire in engine two! We're losing hover power rapidly! Please, I need Fina or Aika to help me put it out!"_

"Just hold on a minute, Hans," he replied, through clenched teeth. "I've got to get the Gigas off of us, or else we'll--"

But it was too late. The ship could climb no more. Slowly, it dragged to a stop and began to plummet instead, leaving Bluheim high above them.

"Ahhh!" Aika screamed, clinging to the console as the ship began to freefall. "Vyse!"

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" he replied. "I can't get the engine to start again! Hans is right, we need someone down there!"

"I'll go." And without waiting for a response, Fina boldly and carefully navigated her way out of the room, Cupil buzzing out right behind her.

Below them, Yakaido Island was nearing in a dizzying blur. Rather than dive after them, however, Bluheim was hovering, slowly pumping her wings as she gathered up energy. Vyse's eyes widened with a sudden realization: she was going to use the Blue Winds to slam them straight down into the island. The _Delphinus_ would be thoroughly obliterated.

Redoubling his efforts, the rogue threw himself against the wheel, struggling to right the _Delphinus_ as it tumbled over and over itself. He managed to stop it from rolling, then straightened it out so that rather than freefalling it fell as if he had purposefully sent it into a dive. Suddenly, he spun the wheel around and reversed the direction the _Delphinus_ was facing, pointing the bow up into the clouds. He then reached for the moonstone cannon, and fired.

The resulting screech that reverberated from the skies high above was enough to let Vyse know he had hit his target. Suddenly the ship lurched and came back to life, and he cut the channeling of the beam short to pull it up before it crashed through the treetops and hit the ground. Down below, he saw Fina rush out on deck, battered and covered in soot. As she turned her gaze skyward, so did he, watching as Bluheim's limp and lifeless form fell from the clouds.

The entire ship was silent as the majestic Gigas fell towards Mount Kazai, trailing feathers and smoke behind her. When she crashed into the mountain and rolled down its side, her death keen was enough to bring tears to their eyes. She finally came to rest in a large cloud of dust; her body fell still, and the crimson glow in her eyes slowly faded to black.

There were no tricks this time, no traps. Bluheim was dead.


	27. Homecoming

Vyse had never been in a more awkward position in his life. Many Yafutomans no longer knew what to make of him and his crew, and it earned him odd looks that made him want to skitter back to his room and hide. He tried to avoid the crowd by ducking away onto the _Delphinus_ and helping with its repairs, but they knew the ship better than anything now and guards had to be posted so that it could be worked on in peace.

Repairing the _Delphinus_ was easier said than done in a country that did not fly metal ships. Hans and Brabham had to show the Yafutomans how to forge the necessary equipment to work on it, and that took a considerable amount of time. Vyse could only do so much before Brabham would chase him off so he could work on the more advanced stuff, leaving the rogue to his own devices. That put Vyse right back where he started, and the cycle began to frustrate him much as it confused him. One day he ducked away into the relative quiet of Urala's teahouse, a tiny establishment that was sparsely-decorated but homey and quiet. He found only Fina and Urala within, sitting by a fountain in the back while drinking tea and talking quietly to one another. With a tired sigh he flopped down beside the two and joined them, earning a concerned look from the Silvite.

"What's wrong, Vyse?"

Noticing her captain's expression, Urala said something in Yafutoman, bowed, and then disappeared into the kitchen.

"I don't know..." Vyse said, frowning a little. "The people are just...weirding me out a little. What's wrong with them?"

Fina blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well...In Ixa'Taka, when we defeated Grendel and had the king put him back to sleep, everyone was so happy," he said. "But here, people almost seem mad at me, and I can't figure out why. The worst I ever got was curious glances and people pointing at my eye patch before. What did I do wrong?"

Fina hesitated, swirling the liquid around in her cup with a faint frown. Finally she looked up at Vyse, her expression sympathetic. "I-I guess you wouldn't understand, without knowing more about their culture. Not all of them are mad. Some are just as confused as you are. Their feelings are conflicting, and they don't know what to do about it."

Vyse canted his head slightly. "I don't understand."

"Vyse, Yafutoma has been cut off from the rest of the world by sky rifts for over a thousand years," Fina replied. "In that time they developed their own culture and...nothing's really changed at all, ever. But when we showed up, we brought change. We brought a lot of change. And like Daigo said, that threatens some people."

"I-I didn't think I was doing any harm..." he said, a little put-out.

"You weren't." She smiled at him. "We brought many good things with us. These people love learning and knowledge, and we had many things to share. I know they appreciate that. But in the time we were here, the Armada also invaded and Kangan and Muraji betrayed the king. While we might have saved the country in the end, we also killed their sacred guardian, who they've revered for generations. It's...a hard thing to stomach, to accept."

"I guess I can see where the conflict comes from." Vyse bowed his head. "But if we didn't kill Bluheim, she would have destroyed us, and then what? Kangan was ambitious. He probably would have used her to turn Yafutoma into another Valua. Maybe he would have started looking for the other Moon Crystals, too."

Urala returned with a small tray, onto which she had placed a steaming cup of tea and a small pile of dumplings. She smiled shyly at Vyse and offered it to him, and he accepted it gratefully, murmuring a badly-accented Yafutoman thank-you to her.

"We'll never know for certain." Fina smiled sadly, pulling a small sip from her cup. "But I believe in you, Vyse, and I think we did the right thing. In the end, we had no choice -- and neither did Bluheim."

Vyse's eyes widened slightly as that sudden realization struck him. The thought of any living being having no will, no choice, was frightening. "Fina...can Gigas think? Do they feel?"

That caught the Silvite off guard, and she blinked. "What?"

"You said Gigas can't make choices on their own when someone is holding their Moon Crystal. But if a Gigas is left to do what it wants, does that make it just like any other animal?"

"I..." Fina blinked again. "I really don't know. Some of them were artificially created, like Recumen. Others, like Bluheim, used to be a normal animal before they were transformed. But they were all created to be weapons, and they were used as weapons since their birth. I don't know if any of them ever got the chance to have a free will."

"I'm going to call it a mercy killing then, and that's that." Vyse grit his teeth, staring into the limited depths of his teacup. "I'd rather die than have my freedom taken from me."

Fina smiled sadly in response to that, but there was nothing but admiration in her eyes. She leaned up against his side, and they finished the rest of their tea in silence.

* * *

Many things changed in the rest of the time it took to build two new guns for the _Delphinus_ and armor plating for almost its entire lefthand side. Vyse finally gave his prisoners a ship and sent them off in the direction the Armada had been flung, but Muraji was taken by the palace and later executed. Kangan had earlier been caught and killed by Daigo, who returned with the traitor's head in a bag. The prince was given a warm welcome home, even by his father, who was filled with regret at having ever sent his son away. The former ronin and his thirty-two surviving Tenkou were heralded as heroes and each regained, at last, the families and homes they had lost. 

But the Armada never returned, and Vyse knew they had retreated. Much as that was beneficial to Yafutoma, the rogue knew they must have set their sights on something else -- and that boded ill in the long run. Whatever they were after, they were already two steps ahead of him, and he began to grow even more restless. The day the _Delphinus_ was finished, Vyse began to restock it and made preparations to at last leave the land they had spent nearly three months in. All he was missing was the one thing they had came to Yafutoma for in the first place, and so, for the first time in weeks, he left his injured ship and went to the palace.

Daigo looked like an entirely different person. His hair had been finely groomed and fell down to roughly the middle of his back, free from the binds of a ponytail. Like Moegi, his form was wrapped in layers of blue and white silk, giving the rugged man a starkly elegant look that contrasted so much with his former appearance that it was almost comical. He carried himself with pride, however, and there was no doubt in Vyse's mind that the man was anything but a Prince now. The former Tenkou lord grinned broadly as he approached the rogue, pressing the Blue Moon Crystal into his hands. Despite the death of its Gigas, the crystal shone as brightly as ever before.

"There's so many things I want to say to you, Vyse, but I'm strangely at a loss for words." Daigo shook his head, laughing. "You sure you want to leave Yafutoma? We're short a few good samurai now."

Vyse grinned. "I'm sure you know what it's like, Daigo. When you're a sailor, you can't just sit still for too long. You get restless...and only the sea can cure that."

"And that's something I'm going to miss. But!" Daigo put a hand over his own heart. "I have my duties, and I will not run from them any longer. I did not spend years working to restore my honor only to throw it all away. My father needs me. My sister needs me. My country needs me."

"I apologize again...for all the trouble." Enrique bowed low to Daigo, and to Lord Mikado behind him. "The invasion, the war...everything. Everything was the fault of my country, the fault of my mother. The lives of your fallen countrymen and your fallen guardian rest now on my shoulders, and...and I'm sorry."

But as Daigo translated the words for his father, Mikado only laughed. "Prince Enrique, this burden is not yours to bear. Your country and its navy may be committing these atrocities, yes, but you are not. You, like Daigo, are working to right the wrongs that have been committed around you and to restore honor to your family. I think there is little more admirable than that."

Enrique only bowed again. "Thank you, my Lord."

Aika frowned. "I don't think it's Valua's fault as much as it was Kangan's and Muraji's. I can't believe how far they were willing to go for their own gain!"

"I can't believe a lot of things." Daigo shook his head ruefully. "This past little while has been astounding. Yafutoma will never be the same. But you know what? It was time for us to change."

"Then let's do our part to make sure it can only change for the better." Vyse smiled and extended a hand to Daigo, who grinned and gave it a firm shake.

"I will stay in contact with you, Vyse, to be certain," Daigo said. "I owe you a life debt that can never be repaid. Not only did you help me save my family, my country and my honor...but you restored the honor of all of my men as well. Thank you."

"Expect a ship to arrive at your home island soon." Lord Mikado nodded at him. "I will send the diplomat out to you when I have chosen an appropriate candidate. It will likely be one of the former Tenkou, as they are fluent in your tongue."

"We'll take good care of them, I promise." Vyse gave a small bow, even now feeling awkward as he did so. "Thank you for your hospitality, and for believing in us after all this. Farewell!"

"Wait!"

The six of them paused as a familiar voice rang out above them. Suddenly Moegi came running down the stairs, dressed in much lighter robes than usual and carrying a small bag with her. She had pulled her hair back by tying a large knot in the center and was devoid of her usual adornments, having taken on a much more practical look in general. As she reached the landing, she skirted across the floor to her father and bowed low to him.

"Father...I want to go with these people!"

"What!?" the entire room cried out in unison.

"Father, you have heard the tales the Westerners have told," she said, earnestly. "We have seen firsthand what threatens the West -- it threatens us too! That is why...That is why I want to go with them, and help them on their quest. Daigo said he was going to stay here and work to protect our country; well I am going to protect our country too, from afar."

"Moegi, have you any idea what you want to get yourself into?" Lord Mikado frowned, deeply. "Did you see their ship? Did you watch them fight? Your mother may have taught you some magic, but I do not think--"

"Then why are you sending a diplomat," Moegi interrupted, "if you know it is not safe where they are? I can be the diplomat, Father. Daigo taught me some of their language, and I am learning more from Fina every day. But please! I cannot sit here idly after everything that's happened. As the princess, it is my duty to do something about it!"

"Well said, Moegi!" Daigo beamed. "You make your older brother proud."

"Ah...Lord Mikado...if it would not be too presumptuous of me..." Enrique stepped forward, then knelt humbly before the Emperor. "I can swear on my life that if Moegi goes with us, I will protect her. I will do everything within my power and ability to ensure that she is safe, sound, and most importantly...happy."

"Please, Father..."

Lord Mikado fell into a contemplative silence, bowing his head in thought. Vyse could tell Enrique and Moegi were holding their breaths, and he exchanged a little grin with Aika, Fina and Daigo as they waited. After several long minutes, the Emperor heaved a defeated sigh and looked up at them, quirking an awkward smile.

"I suppose I do not have much choice in the matter. Very well, Moegi. You may go."

"Oh, Father! Thank you!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck excitedly. "I promise I will not let you or Yafutoma down!"

"Wow, Enrique! You've become so much more reliable!" Aika giggled, then grinned slyly. "Up until recently, all I ever saw of you was the back of your head leaning over the railing of the _Delphinus!_"

The moment broken, Enrique turned to glare at Aika, his expression flat. "Aika! Do you have to bring that up _now_?"

* * *

Their departure from Yakaido was an emotional one, and the entire city had come to see them off. Vyse had to admit that he was going to miss the country, and it was with something of a heavy heart that he lifted the _Delphinus_ from the waters and pulled her up into the sky, leaving the idyllic island nation far behind. Moegi remained glued to the windows of the bridge, watching every day until there was no longer any land to see. She was a strange mixture of sad and excited, but she was eager to help out and actually assisted with several menial chores that Vyse would have never asked her to do aboard the ship. The crew took quickly to the kindhearted Yafutoman princess, and he was glad at least for that much. 

Reluctant to sail through the Dark Rift again -- or anywhere even remotely near it for that matter -- Vyse opted to follow Daigo's example and use the _Delphinus_' new engine to pass over the Great Barrier Reef instead. Even with the new engine it was still about a month of travel, however, and Vyse began to wonder which way would have really been faster. Fina sent Cupil ahead to inform Izmael that they were still alive, and the old man sent back a letter saying they needed to hurry because 'the fort was getting crowded'. Vyse had no idea what that meant and wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know.

Tika Tika spotted Crescent Isle long before anyone else could see it, but when it finally came into view the crew gathered out on deck and cheered wildly. In the time they had been gone in Yafutoma, the entire island had been transformed from a tangled wilderness to a rustic village, littered with wooden houses and half-paved walkways. Vyse found himself reminded of Pirate Isle, and habitually swung around to the back of the island in order to dock the ship. To his surprise, a secret door had indeed been carved into the side of the mountain there, and it opened wide to accommodate the _Delphinus_ and shepherd her into her own dock. Vyse was astounded; there was no way Izmael could have done all this on his own in only four months!

For the first time since they had stolen her, the _Delphinus_ nestled into a real dock and powered completely down, affording a well-deserved rest. The crew spilled out into the cavern below and as Vyse followed, he suddenly realized why the base had developed just as fast as it did: there were more people out there waiting for him. Out of the faces peering up at the ship, however, he only recognized all of two: Izmael, and, somehow, Pow.

"Is my dad here?" Vyse asked a grinning Izmael as he stepped off the ship.

"He was," the builder replied. "Came with a couple of kidlets looking for you while you were gone. They were sad they had missed you, so they left the pup here instead."

Pow barked excitedly and sprang into Vyse's arms, licking his face. The rogue had to laugh a little, ruffling the huskra's fur. "I missed you too, boy! It's been a year now, huh?"

Pow only wagged his tail in response.

"Seriously, though, Izmael...who are these people?" Vyse asked. "What happened to this being a 'secret' island?"

"Well, uh...heh." Izmael's toothy grin became a little guilty. "I was really short labor, and you were lamenting about how understaffed your ship was before you left, so I hired a couple folks and brought them to the island. And Miss Clara, she brought some people too. I didn't let them see how to get here, so don't worry...yer secret's still a secret."

Vyse winced a little. "You didn't guarantee them a spot on my crew, did you? How much are you paying them?"

"Not a dime! That's the thing." Izmael waggled a finger at him. "They _volunteered_. All I did was mention I was working for you and ba-bam! They jumped on board faster than a Valuan chasin' gold. Your name's really gotten around!"

"What?" Vyse blinked. "It has?"

Izmael facefaulted. "You mean you haven't noticed? You're a hero in Nasr and Mid Ocean and Ixa-whatever. If you think nobody's noticed you standing toe-to-toe with Valua, think again, boy!" He reached into his pocket, and then pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. "Lookit this. You flew past ol' Gilder on the Empress' most wanted list."

Blinking again, Vyse unrolled the piece of paper and stared at it incredulously. "Vyse, _King of Rogues_?! You're kidding me, right?"

Izmael shrugged, snatching the paper back out of his hands. "I'm a carpenter, not an artist. If you think I made that up I've oughta brain you with a two-by-four. Ba-bam!" He grinned. "Now you gonna go greet folks, or no? They've been waiting here for you for months."

"No rest for the wicked." Aika beamed. "C'mon, Vyse! I want to check out the base!" And with that said she ran off. Izmael moved to follow, but Vyse grabbed him by the collar and tugged him back.

"Oh no you don't." He smirked. "You've got to introduce me to people. YOU hired them, after all."

"Aw, hell. I wanted to show off what I did." Izmael almost seemed to pout for a moment. "Very well! Who first?"

Vyse scanned the assembled crowd, blinking as his gaze landed on a particular trio. "First of all, maybe you'd like to tell me why there's three thirteen year old girls here."

"Oh! Those're Clara's girls." Izmael nodded. "The one with the glasses is Nara, the tomboy lookin' one is Lilly, and the, er...bouncy one is Belle."

"...Right. And why are they here, exactly?" he asked. "My dad didn't let me do any actual raiding until I was fifteen."

"You've already got one kid with you. What's the difference? Though I'll admit that Miss Clara operates a lot differently from your dad. I think she's kind of special in the head." Izmael grinned, pulling a nail out of his belt and sticking it between his teeth. "Her entire crew's like this. Anyway, these girls were some of her newer recruits, and they weren't adapting to life on the _Primrose_ too well, so she was hoping we could teach them a thing or two. In particular, how to shoot straight."

Vyse laughed a little. "Izmael, I've got an entire Nasrean _squadron_ manning my guns--"

"Hi!"

Vyse jumped as he suddenly found a bright pair of brown eyes in his face. He stepped back slightly to find that the girls had apparently noticed him and decided to investigate. "So you're Captain Vyse, huh? Wow, Aika and Fina weren't kidding about you." The three giggled.

"Erh..." The rogue blinked. Did he want to know?

"So did Izmael tell you about us? Have you reached a decision?" Belle smiled hopefully. "We're a team! We'll blast those Valuans right out of the sky! You'll see!"

"You know, uh...just...go talk to Khazim." Vyse coughed. "Big Nasrean guy, carries a punk around everywhere...you can't miss him. If he's willing to take on a student, I'll let you stay. Otherwise, I'm sorry, I'll have to send you back to Cla--"

"Okay!" And then they were gone, running up the dock and into an adjacent tunnel.

"Heh."

"They get better, I promise." Izmael grinned guiltily. "Like this gent over here. He's actually originally from Upper City Madera..."

Overall, Vyse was impressed with the recruiting Izmael had done. In addition to apparently having three more gunners, Izmael had found a chemist named Ilchymis who was capable of mixing both medicines for the crew and the various fluids the Delphinus ran on; a second lookout named Domingo, who was envious of the exploring Vyse had done; and a small man named Pinta, who was an astounding navigator and who seemed to know as much about the world as Fina did. In addition, Izmael had gone out of his way to bring in entertainment for the crew, claiming that it was the best way to combat cabin fever. Vyse found himself with not only an Ixa'Takan dancer named Merida on his hands, but also the fortune teller Kalifa who Belleza had mentioned so long ago. All of them had apparently helped him build the base for free food, free lodging, and the chance to meet with Vyse.

When the introductions were finally complete, Vyse left the cavernous docks and went topside to explore the base. It was far from finished, but Izmael and his small team had built ample housing for the crew, a tavern, a laboratory and a forge, all of which were fully functional. Ground had been cleared for a small field where vegetables grew, and a tiny shed housed a variety of small animals to eat, meaning the island was completely self-sufficient. Vyse realized that the _Delphinus_' dock had actually been hewn from the cave that he and Gonzales had once lived in, and was surprised to find that the long-dead sailor had been given a proper grave nearby. Scaling the cliff face and rising above it all was an observation deck and a room of some sort built into the mountainside, with a yellow moonstone-powered lift offering a way up and down.

"Not bad, hm? Izmael's been working us to the bone, heheh."

Vyse turned. Standing behind him were two figures he hadn't seen before. The first was a man in his mid thirties, with close-cut brown hair and a stubbly beard. He wore a long, neat white coat over a half-unbuttoned tunic and a loose pair of pants, and somehow saw it fit to complete the outfit with a bright green pair of sandals. Beside him was a little girl in a black dress, with large blue eyes and curly golden hair pulled back into two neat pigtails. In her arms she cradled a baby bird.

"Did Izmael hire you too?" Vyse asked, blinking.

"Not really, we sort of just stopped by a couple days ago," the man replied. "I'm a traveling ship doctor who gives out free clinics to those who need it. You can just call me Doc -- everyone else does."

"A doctor? Really?" Vyse grinned a little. "We're in huge need of a ship doctor. We've got a chemist working for us now, but it's...not quite the same."

"Haha, is that so? Well, we might have to stick around in that case. Maria seems to like it here, at least." Doc nodded to the little girl beside him, but she only watched him in turn with an eerily blank expression. "Ah...yeah. So I take it you must be Vyse?"

"Yeah, that's me." Vyse extended a hand to the man, who shook it firmly. "I guess I'm technically in charge of things here, even though we've been traveling with the Prince of Valua."

"Heh! So I heard." Doc folded his arms across his chest, smirking a little. "In that case, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."

"A favor?" Vyse echoed, blinking.

Doc hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck. "See, I used to be a ship doctor for the Armada back in the day before Maria fell into my arms and more or less forced me to quit. She's not my kid -- heck, I've never been married -- but it's kind of my responsibility to look out for her and keep her happy. Recently she picked this little bird up and...I don't know, it was injured or something, but she nursed it back to health. Unfortunately the bird's diet seems to consist primarily of the most bloody expensive fish in the world and being a free ship doctor, I just...I can't afford it."

"What, you mean moonfish?" Vyse blinked. "It _eats_ moonfish? Aren't those things really rare?"

"Yep. Last I saw they were going for over two thousand gold a pop in Nasrad." Doc grimaced. "It's because they only live in the deep south, so only Valua can catch them, and of course they'd charge and arm and a leg for that sort of thing. In the meantime we've been feeding the little critter other types of fish, but it doesn't seem particularly healthy and Maria's getting upset."

"So what do you propose?" Vyse asked.

"Well...you guys travel a lot. Everywhere, in fact. Izmael told me you guys actually went to a country under the blue moon." Doc rubbed the back of his neck again. "So I thought I'd make you an offer. I'll stay here and take care of your crew real nice if you need it. I figure me and the chemist could make a good team, because I can prescribe the medications people need and he can mix them up. I won't charge, and I'll even stay on my ship if you'd like so I won't take up space. In return, if you guys find any moonfish on your travels, I'd be thrilled if you could bring them back for Maria's bird. It would make her really happy."

"Well, uh...we're not exactly fishermen, but we used to travel with one." Vyse bit his lower lip, considering, until he felt a tug on his tunic. Blinking, he looked down to find Maria peering up at him with pleading eyes. "Aw...aw, that's not fair..."

Doc grinned guiltily. "Heh...I get that a lot."

"Alright, well...I can't promise we'll find anything, but we'll keep an eye out in our travels," Vyse said. "I don't even know where we're going next, so I should probably talk to Fina and figure that out with her."

"Yes? Oh, hello, Mr. Doc. I see you finally found Vyse." Fina suddenly appeared from behind them with Aika and Enrique, smiling. "Did he agree?"

"Of course he did." Aika smirked teasingly, putting her hands on her hips. "He'd be a great big jerk if he said no."

"Hey, c'mon! Of course I agreed." He smirked back at Aika, her own expression melting into a grin. "I was just telling him that we weren't sure where we were going next."

"Well, it's kind of funny you should mention that." Enrique jerked a thumb towards the observation deck. "I noticed Izmael built a meeting room up there. It's got maps and everything. Why don't we head up and plot something out?"

"Wow, geez, is that what that is? That guy really did think of everything." Vyse blinked. "Well, alright, that sounds good. Doc, feel free to claim a space for your own and set up shop if you're so inclined. We've got plenty of room."

"Thank you, Vyse. I'll do just that." Doc gave a little half-salute, then took Maria by the hand and wandered off.

The meeting room was large and elaborate, and Vyse had to wonder where Izmael had gotten half the stuff that was in it. The ceiling, walls and floor were all done in finely-polished redwood, and a heavy oak table with cushioned chairs sat in the center. Sprawled on it was a map of the known world and above it hung an ornate crystal chandelier. The walls were decorated with oil paintings and bookshelves that were yet to receive any books, and the floor was covered in a plush red Nasrean carpet. It was by far the fanciest thing Izmael had built and Vyse concluded that at least half the contents in the room had been stolen from a Valuan ship somewhere.

Sauntering over to the head of the table, Vyse eased into a chair and then leaned back, propping one foot up casually. "This is quite the getup. I guess it'd better be, for one hundred thousand gold."

"I wonder if Gilder is expecting us to pay him back." Aika frowned thoughtfully, flopping into a seat and leaning her elbows against the table. "I bet we could have, before the _Little_ _Jack_ sank..."

"I'm going to have Osman sell off the spices we found. That should make enough money to keep us running for a while regardless of if Gilder wants his money back or not," Vyse replied. "Really, things are looking great from here. If we lend a hand with the rest of the construction, the base will be done in no time and then we can get going again."

"Which logically leads to the next question, I suppose," Enrique said. "Where do we go from here?"

Fina smiled, then took a quill from nearby and began to draw on the bottom of the map. Vyse watched curiously as the jagged shape of a continent took form below South Ocean, and as she drew in the currents around it. When she was finished, she sat back and folded her hands in her lap, smiling.

"I've given it some thought, and I've decided that the next best place to travel would be to the far south, where a forgotten land basks in the cold light of the Purple Moon."

"Ah...the Lands of Ice." Enrique nodded. "Valua's wanted to study it forever, but we couldn't until recently when we gained the ability to travel through sky rifts. My mother sent a fleet out to search for the purple crystal, but we couldn't find anything. All anyone could see for miles and miles was ice and snow."

"What you call the Lands of Ice was a place called Polaris in the Old World," Fina said. "All of its cities are perfectly preserved, buried under layers of ice. That is likely why you could not find it. In particular, we need to find the capital city of Glacia, which should be...around...here...somewhere." She scribbled a small dot on the map.

"Wait...we have to go down there?" Aika's eyes went wide. "I've heard stories! They say that place is the land of the dead!"

"Aika--" Vyse began.

"They say it's so cold that if you don't keep moving, you freeze solid! You have to carry chisels and pick axes with you, and then--"

"Aika, I think your imagination is running away with you again." Vyse smirked. "You overexaggerate way too much."

Aika looked indignant. "Hmph! Fine! Don't come crying to me when you become a Vysicle!"

"No...she's partially correct," Fina said, gently. "We will need to make heavy coats for ourselves and for the entire crew so that we can survive the harsh cold. We'll also need a chemical called antifreeze for the _Delphinus_ so that its pipes don't ice over...I am sure Ilchymis knows how to make it." She paused then, frowning faintly. "As for the stories about it being the land of the dead, that is technically true as well. Nobody lives there anymore. The Purple Civilization and its descendants are lost."

"An entire land, with no people living in it?" Vyse's eyes went wide. "Creepy..."

Enrique was wry. "At least we won't have to worry about someone summoning the Gigas on us."

"Oh, I'm sure something else weird or unpleasant will happen instead." Vyse smirked. "Like we'll be sailing along, and all the sudden a half dozen monsters will jump on deck and start randomly attacking us."

They all laughed to that.

* * *

The next few weeks kept the entire crew busy as they devoted themselves to making Crescent Isle into a home. The rest of the island was tamed and the streets and pathways were finally completely cemented over, making room for more carts and building supplies. The tavern and all of the housing was paved over as well, faced in plaster and stone and given a smooth white appearance. Everyone brought their personal belongings in and began to decorate, but Izmael surprised Vyse, Aika, Fina and Enrique by showing them special rooms he had built for them overlooking the lake. Fina was so astonished that he'd actually do such a thing for her that she began to cry. 

As people continued to work on the interior of the base, Izmael and Kirala began to race to see who could do the most to the exterior. Before Vyse could really figure out what was going on, the pond had been filled with the same fish that swam in Lord Mikado's garden, a Cupil-shaped fountain was erected in the square, and a relief of both Aika and Fina had been carved into the levee overlooking the pool. In the end the base wound up far more elaborate than Vyse had ever intended, and it ultimately reminded him more of Sailors' Isle than it did his old home. They hadn't built a simple pirate base; they'd constructed an entire _town_. The rogue could only grin, standing atop the observation deck as he surveyed their handiwork proudly. Together with his crew, he had made something _big_ -- they had all worked together, and it felt extremely gratifying.

Their remaining time on Crescent Isle was spent making preparations for the expedition south. Ilchymis began to mix gratuitous quantities of antifreeze for the ship, and Pinta buried himself in Valuan maps trying to guess where Glacia was and how to get there. The rest of the crew spent time either stocking the _Delphinus_ or making warm clothing for the trip, and soon they had enough layers to wrap themselves up in that they waddled like birds when they wore it.

Despite their weeks of hard work, however, Vyse did not allow for any rest. Already he could feel his sailing itch again, so when at last the preparations were finished, he gathered up his crew and left for the Lands of Ice. Pulling the _Delphinus_ into Upper Sky, he aimed her south and began to sail, watching every day as the Red Moon sank behind them and a purple glow began to rise to take its place on the opposite horizon. The more time passed, the more Aika told stories, and the more he had to wonder about this supposed 'land of the dead'. He wasn't sure what to expect from the frozen continent, but he hoped she was simply overexaggerating again.

And quietly, deep inside, he fervently prayed to the moons that he wouldn't be forced to put another Gigas down.


	28. The Land of the Dead

It was cold. 

Vyse spent each night huddled under the blankets in bed, trying to shake off the chill that seeped in through the windows. Most of them had frosted over, allowing only anemic circles of light in to the ship. A similar crystal coating had formed several times out on deck and on the ship's wings, forcing people out into the frigid air regularly in order to remove the ice. When they returned, they were always dusted in white powder and often had blue lips.

Most of the crew, himself included, had never seen snow before. The Nasreans were particularly intrigued by it, however intolerable they found the temperature. Moegi mentioned that it snowed in Yafutoma in the winter, and that Mount Kazai had snow on it year-round. The Valuans also recounted tales of how it snowed often in northern Valua, particularly in the colder months. He began to wonder how it was that the Purple Moon's influence could reach so far, even into other lands.

Polaris, or whatever remained of it, truly was a dead land. No ships flew in the sky, and down below there were no signs of life whatsoever. If the terrain was not composed of jagged peaks laden with snow, it was flat and buried under the stuff instead, forming drifts and banks that reminded him vaguely of Nasr's colossal sand dunes. There was no water anywhere that he could see, and certainly no plants; every lake, every river, every waterfall had turned to crystal, glazed over with ice that was easily several hundred feet thick. Sometimes the ice broke off in large chunks and floated aimlessly in the sky, a considerable hazard for the _Delphinus_.

Vyse stepped outside one night to see what it was like. The air was so bitter that it instantly took away the feeling in his face and snatched the breath from his lungs. It was perfectly still, the only wind in the area coming from the wake of the _Delphinus_' movement, but even more so it was quiet. The only sound he could hear was that of the wind and the steady churning of the ship's engines, and it echoed for miles and miles around.

Frowning, the rogue lifted his gaze skyward. For the most part the heavens were covered in a thick gray blanket, lighter than Valua's cover but no less gloomy. The Purple Moon stared down at him through breaks in the clouds, emotionless and cold, and it left him feeling almost lonely. If the Silvites were wrong and there truly was an end to the world, Vyse decided that the Lands of Ice had to be it.

The next day Fina picked up several large shapes moving on the radar and, hours later, the lookouts spotted a pod of Arcwhales swimming in the distance. Vyse watched them with both admiration and sadness, thinking back to Drachma and the few times they had encountered Rhaknam. These Arcwhales were considerably smaller, a tenth of the goliath's size, but they were no less graceful and certainly no less impressive to watch. The wind carried their haunting songs over to the _Delphinus_ and serenaded the crew, a welcome relief after days of sailing in silence.

At last they came to the ice plains where Fina estimated Glacia to be buried. Pinta buried himself in maps in turn, trying to find anything that so much as hinted of a lost city. Vyse circled low over the crystal fields, losing track of the time as the hours dragged by. As he pulled the _Delphinus_ around for what must have been its tenth pass, however, he suddenly spotted a change in the color of the ice. Far below them was a strange, roughly circular purple blur, barely visible through the thick, glassy sheet covering it.

"Fina! Come here."

"What's wrong? Do you see something?" she asked.

Vyse pointed through the window. "What's that down below us? It doesn't look like more ice."

Fina blinked and leaned forward, squinting out the window and through the falling snow to where he was pointing. "It almost looks like stone. Vyse! I think that may be the gate!"

"Finally!" He laughed a little. "Huh. I guess this means we'll have to blast the ice away."

"That should be easy enough." She nodded. "Just make sure you time it so the Delphinus is constantly shooting. Out here the ice will freeze faster than it melts."

It took another two hours to blow a hole in the ice, and the guns were literally smoking by the time they were done. When they had finally chipped away a large enough hole for the _Delphinus_ to land in, it revealed to them a wide tower made of purple-gray stone, decorated in elaborate designs and ice runes that nobody had ever seen before. Vyse carefully eased the ship down and set it into a hover, then left to go prepare a lifeboat and gather his things.

"I'm not sure how long we'll be gone, but Lawrence and Don will have the helm," he told his crew. "If you have any problems, Moegi will be in charge; if it's sailing related, take it to Brabham."

"Don't worry, Captain. We'll take real good care of her." Don gave a small salute. "You run into trouble, just give us a call. Right, Lawrence?"

Lawrence shrugged and ambled back down the hall.

When he was at last sure that his crew was settled, Vyse re-joined Aika, Fina and Enrique and cast off in the lifeboat, sailing towards a portion of the tower that had crumbled away beneath the _Delphinus_' onslaught. Inside he was surprised to find that it was not dark, but instead moderately lit by some sort of strange fluorescent beacons in the walls. The 'tower' was actually a large one-room chamber, littered with hunks of ice and debris from their makeshift excavation and covered in embossed murals that he couldn't quite make out in the strange light. In the center of the room rested a large ice crystal, inside of which hovered a glowing cube that somehow changed faces of its own accord.

The four of them were almost apprehensive as they shouldered their equipment and stepped off the lifeboat. Vyse felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, and he wasn't sure if it was due to the chill air or to the strange gut feeling he got that they were being watched. He pulled his thick blue jacket closer around his frame, but he could tell the others were uneasy and could feel it as well.

"Stick together," he said, his breath coming out as vapor in the air. "We have no idea what's in here."

Suddenly the stone in the center gave a flash of purple light and came to life. Violet runes skittered across its surface and the cube within spun rapidly, casting long, dancing shadows over the walls of the room.

"Language analysis: Silvan. Silvite presence detected. Access denied," came a disembodied female voice. "Please contact General Kharsis for security clearance."

"Wait, what?" Vyse blinked. "What is this?"

"Oh no...it's their security system. It must still think it has to protect the city from the Old World." Fina frowned, approaching the stone and placing her hands against it. "Let us pass! We are friends of Glacia!"

The stone clicked to itself faintly, played back Fina's voice, and then fell silent. She stared at it expectantly, watching the runes shifting along its surface.

"No response from customs officials. Please wait and try again."

Aika blinked, glancing around the room. "Was everyone in the Old World always so...stingy? Can't we just break the rock and move on?"

"Vandalism will result in termination," the stone replied. "Please refrain from acts of violence while in Glacia."

"Ugh..."

"What was it saying about Silvites?" Enrique asked. "Is it denying us access because you're a Silvite?"

"It's entirely possible." Fina frowned, rearranging some of the runes on the stone's surface. "Its designed to keep everyone out, but apparently my people weren't on the best terms with the citizens of Polaris according to these runes."

"What if we tried to convince it that we're from one of the other civilizations?" Vyse asked. "We could have Enrique pretend he's from the Yellow Civilization."

"I don't think that will be necessary," the Silvite replied distractedly. "There should be a security override here somewhere...ah, there we go."

The stone made a strange beeping noise and she finally stepped back from it.

"Visitors to Glacia. Answer my query and open your own path," it said. "The Purple Crest hides a certain number. Friends of Polaris will know this number. What is it?"

Vyse, Aika and Enrique exchanged glances.

"Two," Fina said.

The stone gave no reply. Instead the light in it dimmed and a door on the far end of the chamber slowly ground open.

"Is that it?" Vyse blinked. "Are we clear?"

"Until the next checkpoint, at least." Fina clasped her hands over her chest. "Let's go. I-it's very cold."

Huddling together for warmth, the four moved on through the opened door, finding themselves in a long hallway hewn from pure ice that sloped steeply downwards. Nobody could keep their footing on it and they ultimately fell and slid down, careening completely out of control until the hallway abruptly ended several minutes later and spat them out in another circular chamber. This one was even larger than the last, filled with what looked to be guard posts and sealed doors branching off in a variety of directions. In the center of the room sat another enchanted crystal, which came to life the moment they hit the floor.

"They sure don't have a very convenient way of getting in." Aika winced, rubbing her rear end sorely. "I don't think the crew is going to be able to back us up after all if we get in trouble."

"This looks to me like the ancient equivalent of the Grand Fortress..." Enrique was thoughtful as he stood, dusting frost from his jacket. "It's obviously a very high-security area, meant to control who gets in to and out of the capital. Or it was, anyway."

"That's terribly ironic." Fina clasped her gloved hands together, trying to keep them warm. "The Purple Civilization was said to have been the most militant of the Old World kingdoms. It is said that this land is abandoned because they all left to invade another country, and they perished in the war and in the Rains."

"That's terrible." Aika frowned. "I can't imagine an entire culture becoming extinct..."

Fina nodded sadly, then stood and approached the crystal in the center of the room. As if it had been waiting for her, it lit up with more runes as she neared, the cube within spinning rapidly.

"Visitors to Glacia. Answer my query and open your own path," came another disembodied voice, this one distinctly male. "Like the people of Polaris, friends of Polaris have the traits of the Purple Moon. What are the qualities most valued by our people?"

"Will and spirit," Fina answered.

A door to their far left opened in response, revealing another smooth ice hallway. Aika grinned wryly, putting a hand on one hip. "Here we go again."

The ride down was no different from before, if not simply longer. The tunnel spat them out in a third checkpoint with a third crystal, and they were shivering by the time they hit the bottom. The room was small and only had a few pieces of equipment strewn around the perimeter that Vyse couldn't begin to fathom. They were roughly human-sized and made from purple moonstone alloy, forming a strange border around each of three doors.

"Visitors to Glacia. Answer my final query and open your own path," came a young female voice. "Our Gigas is our guardian and the symbol of our nation. Friends of Polaris will know who created him. What is the name of his creator?"

To this Fina's expression fell, and a sort of distantly panicked expression crossed her face.

"What's wrong?" Vyse asked.

"I-I don't remember her name," Fina replied. "They had me study this but there's only so much I can remember...uhm...oh no..."

"Do you have any idea at all? Maybe we can help," Enrique offered.

Cupil squeaked quietly from beneath the Silvite's coat. She paused and glanced down at her arm, as if she could see him through it.

"...are you sure?"

He squeaked again.

"How do you know that?"

Another squeaked reply. Fina looked skeptical.

"Cupil, you're not making any sense..."

"Meep!"

Defeated, the Silvite sighed and turned to address the stone. "Arnora Ronir."

The runes faded. A door on their far right slid open.

"What in the world did he say to you?" Aika asked, blinking.

"He told me the name and it sounded familiar, but I didn't know how he knew it," Fina replied. "He says he 'picked it up'. I suppose that means he remembers my lessons, but I didn't think he had that good of a memory."

"Cupil is pretty smart for an animal. I wouldn't put it too far past him." Enrique smiled. "Let's keep moving, you three. It will keep us warm."

Behind the door was a large elevator platform suspended in a deep shaft of ice. As they stepped on it it made a deep grinding sound and then began to rapidly descend, nearly knocking them off of their feet. It seemed to go down forever, and Vyse counted the minutes as they crawled slowly by. After twenty, he simply stopped.

Some time later they finally hit the bottom, and the door opened into a short hallway lined with pillars and decorated with long banners and tapestries that were still completely in tact. Each one sported a different and complex crest on it, and Vyse wasn't sure what they stood for. The door opened as they neared, blasting them with a chilly wind. He could only see a few feet ahead before the floor vanished into a thick and choking white fog, which poured in through the open door and trailed wispy fingers at their feet. They paused just in the doorway to look around, trying to get their bearings, but they could barely see each other let alone anything else.

"I can't see a thing," Vyse said, his voice echoing emptily around them.

"Where are we?" Aika asked. "We were going down for a really long time. Why's this place so foggy?"

"I don't think we're going to find anything like this," Enrique said, frowning. "Should we wait until it clears?"

"Nah. We never let stuff like this stop us before." Vyse shrugged and continued forward, but the fog did not move with him, and neither did the ground. Suddenly the floor came to an abrupt end and he fell forward, tumbling over the edge. "AHH!"

"Vyse?!" the girls cried in unison above him.

Gritting his teeth, Vyse flung his arms out and managed to catch a rocky outcropping, dangling from it precariously. Swallowing thickly, the rogue stole a quick glance down and found nothing but clouds passing under his feet far below. His heart began to race, and he braced himself against the ledge, struggling to heft himself up. He managed to find a few footholds and slowly climbed back to the top, where Aika took him by the hand and helped him onto solid ground.

"Clouds below us. That means we're...at the bottom?" She blinked, steadying him as he collapsed to the ground panting.

"I didn't realize we were going down for _that_ long." Enrique blinked. "Are you alright, Vyse?"

"Wheew. That was close." The rogue shook himself, peering down over the ledge. "Maybe we should wait after all."

Cupil squeaked again. Fina blinked and was about to say something down to him when Aika suddenly gave a surprised cry.

"Oh! Hey! I think the fog is lifting!"

Fina gasped. "Oh my..."

"...I never expected we'd find this," Enrique said.

As the mists slowly rolled away, they revealed a scene that was beyond anything in their imaginations. An entire city sprawled out before them, composed of tall, spire-like buildings that dipped into the clouds. Each was masterfully built with dark slabs of granite or marble, ornately decorated in elegant knotwork patterns and lightly dusted with glittering beads of frost. The windows were almost all stained glass, themselves works of art depicting abstract scenes of life and religion. Everything was connected by an intricate network of bridges, streets, and walkways made of pure ice, which wove their way between the buildings like a giant spider's web. But what really made the city incredible was the fact that it was hanging upside-down from the bottom of the continent, each skyscraper dangling like icicles from above. As much as it was vertigo-inducing, it was a marvel to behold, and the four stared at it in silence for several long minutes.

"This is...amazing..." Vyse breathed.

"It's beautiful..." Aika said, wistfully. "How did they ever build this place?"

"The Purple Civilization gave rise to some of the most powerful mages the world has ever seen," Fina replied, quietly. "They built this entire city using nothing but magic. Some of the buildings are actually made completely out of ice. Because they built it beneath the continent, it was shielded from the Rains of Destruction, and since then it's been frozen in time."

"Buried here...forever." Aika frowned. "Everything these people worked so hard for now is lost. That's so sad."

"I don't know about you, but this place gives me the chills...and I don't mean the cold kind." Vyse shivered as he stood, readjusting his gear over his back. "Look at this place. It's easily bigger than Madera, but there's no people, no sound, no movement. There's nothing at all! This isn't like Rixis. This city had the chance to survive. Why did they throw that all away?"

"I don't think we'll ever know..." Fina replied, quietly.

"Dead men tell no tales..." Enrique murmured.

"You're right, though. Cities should be alive," Aika said. "They should be full of people and sound and lights and movement. To see it so deserted like this is eerie..."

"Either way, we should get moving before we're buried here forever too." Vyse jammed his gloved hands in his pockets as he felt the feeling leave his fingertips. "Where do we go from here, Fina?"

Fina gazed out over the city, surveying the veritable forest of skyscrapers. "If what the elders have told me is correct, the Purple Crystal should be held with its sleeping Gigas in the royal palace. It should be a dome-shaped structure at the heart of this city, but...I-I can't see much of anything between all these buildings."

"If we take the crystal, will he wake up?" Enrique asked, concernedly.

"If he does, we will have the ability to put him back to sleep," she replied. "The crystal has complete control over them, remember. We're perfectly safe as long as one of us is holding it. A Gigas will never, ever harm its master."

Vyse thought back to Recumen, and how he had carefully picked his way around Belleza to make sure he did not crush her. Grendel had likewise shielded King Temahalan from DeLoco's onslaught, without any hesitation at all. Was it devotion or -- as Fina had put it -- programming that caused them to do such things, he wondered?

"Well, this sounds like it should be pretty straightforward, then," he said aloud. "The hardest part will be not getting ourselves lost. Do you think we can get anywhere before sundown?"

Fina considered. "We only have a few hours left, and then it will get even colder. We should take shelter in one of the houses and wait until morning to move on."

"Shall we, then?" Enrique gestured ahead of them.

The only way down from where they currently stood was by way of a floating platform that Vyse had missed entirely when he dropped over the edge. The four gathered on it and it gently carried them out to a landing several hundred feet away, which was made of ice but as simple to stand upon as stone. They tested their footing carefully and, satisfied that they would not slip and it would hold, they huddled together again and strode off.

The first few buildings they came to were locked, their doors and windows frozen shut. Not willing to waste their energy on magic to melt them open, the four continued on down the translucent street, their footfalls echoing dully all around them and serving as the only noise to split the chill air. The towers loomed almost ominously above them, stretching high and disappearing into a ceiling of shadows and swirling mist and leaving Vyse feeling tiny and insignificant. They were like the ancient trees of Ixa'Taka, weathered sentinels that had withstood the test of time and still stood watch stoically over the land. They simply felt old, and almost looked like long, drawn, weary faces in the rapidly dimming light.

It took some time before they reached another skyscraper, as not every street connected to a building. It was one of the taller structures that he could see, square in shape but ending in five elegantly pointed spires that brushed the clouds far below. The windows were long and ornate, refracting a rainbow of colors across their path as the ice beads on them caught the light, and somewhere on a balcony above them came the lonesome tinkling of a metal windchime. Vyse stepped expectantly before the door and it opened halfway before getting stuck, grinding to an abrupt halt with the crunch of breaking ice. The rogue squeezed between the door frame and the door and pushed at it, and it finally gave and slid the rest of the way open.

Inside it was dark, and the pale square of light that bled through the doorway was not enough to illuminate anything. Their boots crunched softly over the lightly-frosted ground, and Vyse could see several large shapes in the room but couldn't quite make them out. The air was still and dry and almost stale, and on it lingered a vaguely sweet scent that he could not place. The others shuffled in behind him and the door closed, leaving them in blackness.

"Here, just a moment." Enrique rustled behind him somewhere, digging through his pockets. "Aha! Moons, give me strength!"

A burst of electrical energy momentarily blinded them, but when it cleared Aika and Fina screamed. The prince lifted the light he had focused into his palm high above his head and glanced around, then nearly dropped it as his gaze fell upon what the girls had seen. Vyse felt his heart momentarily stop.

The dark shapes he had noticed were people, all slumped over as if they had fallen into a deep slumber. Two guards in ornate purple armor had collapsed on either side of the doorway, still clutching long spears tightly in their hands, and two more could be seen by doors on the other side of the room. They were in a lobby of some sort, Vyse realized, and many people wrapped in fur-lined clothing lounged comfortably upon floating chairs and pillows, as if they had settled on to them for a simple nap. In their hands they clutched a variety of objects, from drinks that had frozen solid to what almost looked like books to other things he did not recognize. Tables made of glass -- or even, he supposed, ice -- hovered between them and were still laden with bottles and treats that had since frozen as hard as stones. All of them were cadaverously pale, with no color whatsoever in their faces, leaving them almost as white as the snow that burdened the continent outside.

"Are they...sleeping...?" Aika asked, visibly shaken. "Or are they...dead...?"

Trembling, Fina crouched by one of the guards and removed his helmet. He was a powerful looking man, with broad, rugged features, a face shadowed in stubble and a thick, braided mane of lavender colored hair. She gently brushed it away and removed a glove, hovering a hand over his nose and then pressing it into his neck. Her eyes grew distant.

"...he's dead. They're all likely dead."

"But how?" Enrique asked, his voice nearly a whisper. "They don't look like they're in pain. They don't have any wounds. They're still frozen in their day to day activities. It's almost as if one day they suddenly decided to just give up on life."

"How long have they been here?" Aika asked, shocked. "They can't have been dead for that long if they're still in one piece like this. Maybe there's some survivors!"

Fina only shook her head in response, standing and drifting over to some of the people laying on the pillows. "Ice can stop time. Just as it keeps our food fresh, it...preserved...these people as well. They've likely been frozen here like this for over a thousand years."

The Silvite paused by a woman who was laying with one arm outstretched towards what looked to be a small silver plate turned upside-down. Her eyes were glassed over and stared emptily up at the ceiling, giving her an expression that almost looked confused. They all looked confused, Vyse realized. Was it just his imagination?

Gently brushing the woman's hand out of the way, and looking queasy as she did so, Fina bent over the plate-device and began to do something to it. It buzzed at her irritably but finally came to life, projecting a transparent image of a large, burly looking man in purple light. He began to speak in a rough, almost guttural-sounding language that nobody could understand, but Fina fiddled with it again and suddenly he began speaking in Meridian instead.

"_...lost contact with the last of our fleet. We are not entirely certain what happened but we have a feeling that it was the work of their abomination of a Gigas. Fear not though, for Plergoth has survived along with the rest of us, and as long as Glacia endures our kingdom will not fall._" The man paused and seemed to fiddle with something that did not show up in the image. "_With that in mind, however, we will be imposing a complete lockdown on Glacia and all other Deep Sky cities until further notice. Nobody is permitted to enter and leave the city without military clearance, and all vehicles and ships will be grounded in the harbor indefinitely. They have sent word that they will be sending an ambassador to parlay with me this evening, but I do not trust them. Stay on alert, but treat them with courtesy while they are within our city. I plan to dispose of them when the time is right._" He bowed his head. "_We were the first, but we will not be the last. Stay strong, children of the frozen moon._ Hahlna-ka!"

The strange machine blinked once, then went out. The four of them stood in silence, staring at each other.

"They locked themselves in?" Aika said at last. "What killed them, then?"

"I...don't know. I don't know what any of this means." Fina blinked. "The only thing that could have killed this city was magic. Very, very powerful magic. Perhaps something backfired when they tried to kill the ambassador they mentioned. I can't really tell what's going on, and I don't think the hologram has any more answers for us."

"Do we investigate?" Enrique asked.

"No, that could keep us here for years." Vyse shook his head. "I don't know what happened to these people, but there's nothing we can do now."

"What do we do now though?" Aika asked. "We can't sleep in any of these buildings -- they're all tombs!"

"Well, either we find a room with nobody in it or we pitch tents and sleep outside." Vyse grimaced. "I don't know which one's worse."

Aika folded her arms across her chest. "I'm going outside. You couldn't pay me enough to stay in here! Well, maybe you could. But I'm still not staying." And with that said she opened the door and left.

Enrique smirked a little. "I guess that settles that. Let's find a sheltered area and get a fire going. As long as we stick together, we'll be fine."

Vyse didn't think it could get any colder, but that night it did. Though they kept it burning all night, the fire's reach seemed pathetically short, and he didn't dare move lest he slip out of its warming embrace. The four of them had cocooned themselves in layers upon layers of blankets until the girls were nearly lost in them, and it was only through sheer fatigue that they finally fell asleep. Vyse had trouble staying there, however, and spent most the night laying on his side and staring at the fire as an Arcwhale's sorrowful crooning echoed from all corners of the city. When dreams finally did come for him, he found himself back on board the _Little Jack_.

* * *

"You guys sure are a handful. This is the fifth case of frostbite I've treated, I'll have you know." Doc was wry as he deftly wrapped a bandage around each of Domingo's fingers, a thermometer clasped between his teeth. "No wonder Vyse wanted me along."

"Aika and Fina usually take pretty good care of us with magic." Hans sniffed and then blew his nose into a handkerchief. "But they weren't very good at colds and stuff."

"You're lucky it's not pneumonia." Doc sat back and nodded at Domingo. "Alright, that should do it. Don't go back outside anytime soon, alright? Make sure you keep your hands warm."

"Thank you, Doctor." Domingo nodded at him gratefully and left.

"Heh, next!"

Khazim sauntered in, wrapped in a blanket and sneezing violently.

"Haha...all the Nasreans are sick." Marco grinned wickedly from where he sat on a nearby table with Pow, kicking his legs back and forth idly. "Maybe we should dump antifreeze on them, too."

Khazim grunted indignantly. "Don't think for a second that this'll slow me down! No sir! I've got more armada kills to rack up."

"The only thing you're racking up is one hell of a tab," Polly said as she passed by, carrying a tray full of empty hot cocoa mugs. "I don't care what the old wives' tales say, loqua isn't a cure for the common cold."

"Bah!" he replied.

"Alright, alright." Doc chuckled, fishing a stethoscope out from his jacket and dangling it from his ears. "Take deep breaths, nice and slow now. Let's make sure it's not the beginnings of pneumonia."

"When did my galley become a doctor's office, anyway?" Polly grinned from the kitchen doorway, ushering Urala out with a few bowls of hot soup. The Yafutoman woman teetered slightly and then carefully brought them over to the table Hans and a few others sat at, passing them out along with steaming mugs of tea.

"When the line got too big for the bunks!" Doc replied. "No wonder they call this the land of the dead. Yer all dying on me!"

Everyone chuckled to that.

"So...hey, Maria..." Marco turned to look over at the girl sitting near to him, cradling her bird in her lap. "Are you learning from Doc? Will you be a doctor someday too?"

Maria didn't look at him. In response, she only shrugged.

"You seem to take real good care of your bird, is all. That's why I asked. What's his name, anyway?"

No response.

"Ah...Marco..." Doc paused to look over his shoulder at the boy, biting his lower lip. "She...doesn't talk much. She kind of doesn't talk at all. So don't get upset if you can't get an answer out of her."

Marco blinked. "She can't talk?"

"She can, she just...chooses not to." Doc frowned. "It's a long story. We'll leave it at that."

"Uhm...okay..." Marco frowned and dejectedly hopped off the table. "I'll be below deck then. I've got lotsa swabbing to do before Vyse gets back." And with that, he jammed his hands in his pockets and sauntered off. Polly watched him leave with a sympathetic smile.

"Poor boy. He's been such a brave kid up until this point, but what he's really lacking is a friend."

"Everyone on the ship seems to like him," Doc commented, peering into Khazim's ear with a scope.

"I mean someone his age, like Maria." Polly waved a hand. "This whole time he's been running around with a bunch of adults and teenagers. Vyse says he escaped Valua with him and has been riding on the _Delphinus_ ever since. He works real hard to try and prove himself, but he never gets to act his own age, you know? Almost reminds me of my daughter in that respect."

"I don't know what to do. She won't even talk to _me_." Doc spared a glance at Maria, who was busy attempting to get her bird to eat some sky sardis. "Whenever she wants my attention, she just rings this little bell she has and pantomimes the rest. And every time I hear that bell ring, my heart breaks a little more."

Polly didn't have a response to that right away, but she gazed upon the girl with pity. "I'm sure something will get through to her...someday..."

"I can only hope." Doc shook his head, then fished around in his bag and pulled out a small bottle of pink liquid to hand to Khazim. "Here ya go. This will take care of the runny nose, the sneezing and the fever, but it will make you drowsy. Stay away from the guns while you're on this, okay?"

"What!?" Khazim cried. "You can't honestly expect me to do that!"

"Would you like to explain to Vyse why you're pointing turrets at the bridge?" He smirked. "Take it and you'll be better in a few days. You're in no condition to fight otherwise."

Grumbling, Khazim snatched the potion up and trudged off, dragging his blanket behind him. As he opened the door up above, Doc heard a chorus of coughing and sneezes and knew more people were coming down to see him. It was probably going to be a long day.

* * *

"Ah-CHOO! Ugh..." Vyse sniffed and rubbed his nose, which was so numb it felt ready to fall off. With a tired groan, the rogue rolled out of his tent and over to the fire, murmuring unintelligible, happy thoughts to himself as it warmed him again. The ground was hard, and cold, and everything was cold, and he hated it. He didn't even feel like eating, even though instinct told him that the glint of light under the lip of the continental shelf meant it was morning. He felt something poke him and he lethargically swatted it away, but it persisted much to his chagrin. Defeated, he cracked his eyes open and found Aika hovering over him with a steaming bowl.

"Morning, sunshine." She grinned. "You doing okay? You've been coughing all morning."

"Mnh...have I?" He rubbed at his eyes groggily. "I feel kind of crappy. I wish I had a nice warm bed to curl up in right now."

She smiled at him fondly. "You'll have to settle for porridge. C'mon, we've already began to pack things up; we can't wait on you anymore."

"Have you? Mm, sorry." Reluctantly, Vyse hefted himself up into a sitting position and wrapped his hands gratefully around the bowl. It was piping hot, enough to radiate a steady warmth through his gloves, and he began to down it vigorously. Much as his appetite had apparently been non-existent, the simple meal warmed him and he began to feel better.

As he glanced about the makeshift campsite they had pitched in the middle of the road, he realized that his tent was the only one still standing. Aika, Fina and Enrique had already rolled their own belongings back up and crammed it into their backpacks, and the latter two were studying the city in the distance with his eyepatch, pointing to things and talking to one another. It didn't take Vyse long to finish his meal, and he handed the bowl back to his best friend with a smile before forcing himself to shed his blankets and get his belongings back together. When he was finished, Fina and Enrique returned and handed back his eye patch.

"How are you feeling?" Fina asked with a soft smile.

"Crummy, but that's not stopping me." He smiled back. "Did you guys see anything up there?"

"We could just barely see the palace in the distance," Enrique replied. "I think we went farther than we realized while we were searching for a house to stay in last night. Provided we don't get lost, we should reach it by the end of the day."

"Man, these ancient cities are insanely huge." Vyse stretched. "Alright then, let's get moving. We've still got a long ways to go."

There was plenty to look at as they continued on their journey, for the city got more complex the further in they delved. The streets became wider and more confusing, with small bridges criss-crossing over some roads and curved ramps leading down to others. The buildings became more sophisticated as well, their faces turning multi-faceted and even more pointed and angular. Some towers seemed to be made completely out of windows, while others, as Fina had said, were built from pure ice. They were crowned with lights that flashed dimly into the clouds and decorated with intricately-detailed ice sculptures that were as fine as glass and illuminated by some unseen glow at their bases. Vyse was amazed that anyone could carve such things with such detail.

A large gap formed in the city due to a fissure in the continent high above, over half a mile wide. An enormous suspension bridge had been built to span the open sky and connect the two halves, hung from two archways on either side of the split. It was wide enough to sail two ships over, leaving the four feeling minuscule as they passed over it.

When they got to the other side, they began to see bodies again. These people all seemed to be headed in the same general direction -- their direction -- but had collapsed before they ever made it. Many had their heads turned towards the street, and Vyse shivered under the unblinking stare of a thousand glassy eyes. The girls kept their gaze glued to their feet, never daring to look up, but the fallen crowd only grew thicker the further they went. The silence was deafening, and Vyse almost felt sick to his stomach as they picked their way through the unwitting graveyard.

At last the street mercifully ended and the city pulled back around a square moat of swirling clouds. They rolled lazily about the perimeter of an enormous purple dome, which was decorated in abstract designs drawn in pure gold and which glittered as if composed of millions of tiny amethysts. A large portion of it had somehow crumbled away, leaving a gaping hole big enough to sail two or three ships through. The only way in or out was by one of four narrow bridges, which were guarded by strange mechanical constructs that vaguely resembled fat birds. They found that the guardian of their bridge had had its "face" smashed in by a powerful blow, and now it lay in pieces before them. Vyse was instantly reminded of the sentinel that had rested at the bottom of Shrine Island, and poked it cautiously with a cutlass to make sure it wouldn't move.

"It looks like there was some trouble at the palace," Fina said, clasping her hands over her chest. "Are the other guardians in tact? I can't see them from here."

"Are these the crystal guards? I've never seen a mechanical one before." Aika circled the fallen construct, eying it critically. "Wow. It looks like someone took a sledgehammer to this thing. I wonder what happened here."

"If they are the crystal guardians, that potentially bodes ill for us," Enrique said. "The guardians are dead -- or at least this one is -- and there's a gaping hole in the side of the palace. Someone may have reached the moon crystal before us after all."

"But how?" Aika asked. "Can Valua even sail into Deep Sky?"

"Well...no. Not that I know of." Enrique frowned. "But I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Belleza reports things to DeLoco and he reverse-engineers a Yafutoman engine for the Armada. Those two work exceedingly well together. They are the whole reason the moonstone cannon exists."

"It's not necessarily that. It may be related to the disaster that killed this city," Fina said, quietly. "A magical explosion is more than enough to blow out a portion of the palace. If the people here died in the aftershock, I don't see why the guardians would survive any better."

"Fair enough." Vyse shrugged, although his heart began to speed up a little. "I guess we'll find out when we get inside. Come on, let's go."

Cautiously, the four crossed over the bridge and entered the palace. To their utter surprise, it was lit inside as the outer fortress had been, and pleasantly warm to the point where they began to sweat in their heavy clothing. Vyse and Enrique unbuttoned their jackets and the girls pulled their hoods off, blinking around as their eyes adjusted to the strange artificial light. Everything everywhere was made out of different densities of ice, from ceiling to floor to the pillars in between, and it mirrored their reflections at every possible angle. A wet fog seeped in from the other rooms, but in this, of all places, there were no signs of death and no bodies to be found, and that was perhaps the most puzzling of all.

The four wordlessly navigated through several rooms, all of them hewn from ice and all of them still completely in tact. They were filled with riches and artifacts and breathtaking pieces of art, but even Aika ignored them in favor of her curiosity, following the trail of mist as its fingers coiled under door after door. It was as if the fog was alive and guiding them, and indeed it was steadily retreating the farther they pressed on. Eventually they wound down a long crystal staircase and found themselves before a massive ornate door, upon which had been etched the Purple Crest.

"This must be it," Fina said, quietly. "Let's be careful not to disturb anything."

She placed a hand against the door, and it slowly ground open.

Just as before when they had first entered the city, the path ahead of them was swallowed by the fog. Vyse could barely see ahead of himself, but he could hear a deep, heavy breathing, and it echoed so far around that he reasoned the chamber they were in must have been huge. The four of them cautiously stepped forward, half expecting the ground not to be there, but this time their path did not abruptly end. Instead, they ground to a halt as a huge dark shape began to emerge from the fog, its footsteps falling heavily.

"Ghost!" Aika whispered.

"Who's there!?" a deep voice growled, booming off the far ends of the cavern. "Speak! Or I'll crack yer skull!"

Vyse felt his heart skip a beat. "That...that sounds like..."

The figure stopped dead as it heard his voice. The mists swirled away slightly, and he and Drachma found themselves staring at each other.

"Oh...moons..." Vyse's jaw hit the floor.

"Cap'n?! _CAP'N?!_ Oh my gosh!" Aika gasped and ran forward, throwing her arms around the old man's neck tightly. "It's you! It really is you! You're alive!"

"Captain!" Fina exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh thank the moons! Thank you, thank you moons! I can't believe it!"

"Wh...boy, you...And Aika and Fina and..." Drachma was at a loss for words, and simply stood there confoundedly. "...Hmph. Knew ye'd survive."

"Captain, what...what are you doing at the bottom of Glacia?" Vyse shook himself, but he could not break out of his stupor. "Where have you been?! How did you--"

"One question at a time, boy." Drachma's mustache twitched, but then he fell grim. "C'mere. Lemme show you somethin'."

The four blinked, then apprehensively followed.

Drachma led them into the fog and down a long flight of stairs, where a colossal form began to take shape. The mist gradually faded, and they watched, stunned, as it took on definition and color. A warm thought filled his mind, but it was not his own:

_Friends..._

The veil finally lifted, and a blood red eye gazed down at them. They were standing next to Rhaknam.

It would have taken dozens of _Delphinus_es to match the Arcwhale's size. His eye alone was bigger than any of them were tall, and even when he craned his neck back, Vyse couldn't see all of him. Up close he found the Arcwhale's hide to be tough but smooth, covered in a thin layer of frost that occasionally rolled off his body in crystal beads. The flesh on his back had twisted, however, a strange, pale, sickly color that marked wounds that had never correctly healed. Rhaknam was clearly in tremendous pain but he bore it unflinchingly, giving one long sweep of his massive tail as they neared.

Two shocks at once. None of them could speak.

"How are you both alive?" Aika said, at last.

"Alive is relative." Drachma frowned, placing a hand against the Arcwhale's side. "Rhaknam ain't healin' proper. It looks like the wounds he received from Ramirez are fatal. Slowly but surely, he's dyin'..."

Rhaknam gave a long, low grunting sound.

Drachma continued. "When Rhaknam fled from Ramirez, I got pulled along. If I weren't attached to him, the Little Jackwoulda been destroyed. He swam all the way back here. This is...his home."

Vyse gasped. "You mean to tell me you've been here alone with Rhaknam the entire time?"

Drachma nodded faintly. "Aye."

Rhaknam lidded his eye halfway and heaved a weary sigh. From atop his head came a glimmer of purple light, and Enrique stared at it in confusion.

"What's that glow? Is that...?"

Fina blinked and followed his gaze, her eyes going wide. "It's the Moon Crystal! Which means that this Arcwhale...Rhaknam...is the purple Gigas?"

"What?" Vyse did a double-take, staring upwards.

Fina hesitated, then clasped her hands over her chest and gazed into Rhaknam's eye. "Are you...Plergoth?"

The Arcwhale heaved another long sigh, but he almost seemed to smile. Again came the strange voice in Vyse's head, deep as the sky and smooth like ice. _It has been a long time...since anyone has called me by name._

"He _talks?!_" Aika exclaimed, astonished.

"So this is what you meant, Captain..." Vyse blinked. "Is this magic?"

_Of a sort. When they implanted the crystal in me, I gained the understanding of Words. The little ones said it was necessary so they could communicate with me._

"Cupil 'talks' to me in a similar manner." Fina frowned lightly. "But I guess it would make sense that the Gigas can understand human speech. How else can you issue them commands?"

_Commands...yes..._ Rhaknam closed his eye. _...I could show you_.

"Show us?" Vyse asked, blinking.

The glow atop Rhaknam suddenly flickered and dimmed, and the crystal came tumbling down his side. He opened his eye to gaze at them, sweeping his tail once again.

_I will help the four of you to understand me. Place your hands upon the crystal, and see through my eyes._

Fina gasped. "You are trusting us with this?"

_Betray me if you will. There is little you could force me to do in this state._ He closed his eye again. _But yes. I do trust you._

"Go on, boy." Drachma nodded at him. "'Tis a strange sensation, but it's safe."

Vyse hesitated, then stooped by the crystal to pick it up. It was roughly rectangular in shape, but multi-faceted so that it almost resembled the skyscrapers outside. He paused, however, as he noticed a fragment of it was missing. Slowly, he turned to stare at Drachma, his eyes landing on the old man's dagger.

"'A Gigas will never hurt its master'..."

Drachma grunted. "Aye...I finally figured out what this purdy little shard was. It was enough fer him, it seems."

_Just enough. Enough to shake me from my blood haze._ Rhaknam shifted slightly so that he could rest beside the three. _We are nothing without our Masters. Come, and see._

Vyse hesitated again, then picked the crystal up and stood. Aika, Fina and Enrique joined him and placed their hands on it as well, and all the sudden Vyse felt himself pulled out and away from his body.

The world changed; it became sharper, clearer, painted in hues of red and blue and violet. He swam amongst a large pod of Arcwhales, singing and contentedly gliding through the clouds. Suddenly three ships approached from his left, strange metallic vessels shaped like bows. They made lots of noise and startled the whales, and he turned to attack to protect his pod. The humans on deck were waiting for him, and they shot him with a strange device. He couldn't see anymore. The world momentarily went black.

The next thing he knew was pain -- a terrible, terrible pain. Vyse wanted to drop the crystal and scream, but he couldn't find his fingers and voice to tell them to do so. He hovered in a strange circle of light, surrounded on all sides by dozens of chanting mages. His body was being perverted; he could feel it twisting and growing abnormally fast, and it caused his head to swim and the world to blur all around him. His skin was being split and carved as circuit lines were grafted into his flesh, all bound together at one central point atop his head. They placed the crystal in it, and it was so cold it burned. But they did not care. They ignored his pain and his suffering. Instead, it pleased them.

Another image, a woman. She was dressed in luxurious furs, with hair that swept down to her ankles. She held the crystal up to him, a triumphant gleam in her eyes. "You are Plergoth!" she declared. "And you will obey the wielder of this crystal!"

The world shifted and changed again. He was soaring over Yafutoma, the waters below him speeding by in a blur. The woman gave him the order to freeze it all, but he did not want to. In the back of his mind he wanted to resist, having no interest in these Little People or their War, yet somehow, consciously, he was more than willing. Drawing in a deep breath, he bellowed out a cloud of icy steam, and the ocean began to rapidly crystallize beneath him. A chain reaction started and it swiftly spread, hardening the sea and covering entire islands. His Master was pleased, and that made him pleased, because he existed to serve the Master. Wait...was that right?

The scene shifted again, but he was still over a frozen Yafutoma. A massive shape blotted out the sun and plunged at him with terrifying speed, its war cry piercing the air. Bluheim fell upon him and dug her talons into his back, but he dislodged her with a violent flick of his tail. He turned and snapped at her, but his razor sharp teeth only caught feathers as she darted away. They fought tooth and nail, blasting each other with the power of their moons until the sky looked like it was filled with fireworks. Some shots missed and hit the islands below, obliterating houses and stripping the earth bare. Many people died, but this was good. The Master told him it was good, so it had to be.

A quick succession of images followed, almost too quick to comprehend. Lightning crashed all around him, and he froze the bolts in place, flinging them at a long golden creature with a sweep of his tail; the forests of Ixa'Taka burned underneath him, and he reared up to headbutt Grendel in the stomach; the desert sands swirled all around him, and he blew forth an icy blast to counter Recumen's flame; and bodies. Bodies everywhere. There were piles of frozen people and burned people, the twisted skeletons of houses and ships, and entire islands that were aflame. Again, the Master was pleased.

And then, crisis. He was wracked with confusion, unsure of what was going on. A blinding pulse of light shot up into the sky, and the moons lit on fire. Moonstones fell √ hundreds, thousands, battering him and pounding flat the land. He dove beneath a continent and hid, eyes wild.

He'd survived. They'd survived. The Master was alive. It was the Enemy's doing, she said. He had to go and destroy the White Tower. She would show him the way. But she never returned. A splitting headache ravaged him. He could not hear her. He could not feel her. There were no hands to guide him, no Words. He went mad. All he knew was the last thing burned into his mind: destroy. And so he did.

Then came the people in the little gleaming ships. They were pale and beautiful. A veiled woman, a Silvite, stood before him and spoke to him softly, slowly waving a glowing crystal in her hand back and forth. Behind her was something he did not recognize, as it continuously changed shape. He grew drowsy. He slept...

The whole scene faded and Vyse slipped back in his body again. He could still see the world through Rhaknam's eyes, however, and realized he was staring at himself through both his own vision and through that of the Gigas. Rhaknam was there in his mind, and he was somehow happy and sad at the same time. When he inhaled, the Gigas inhaled; when he exhaled, so did the other. The Arcwhale knew he understood.

'Destroy,' he said. When the spell broke early and I re-awoke, it was still all I had on my mind. I set out to destroy, but the world had changed, and I was confused. I could not remember who I was or where I was to go. I tried to find a Master so they could tell me.

Aika, Fina and Enrique slowly drew away from the crystal with tears in their eyes. Vyse swallowed thickly and carefully set it down, and finally the world returned to normal.

"So Rhaknam was once a normal Arcwhale..." Enrique said, quietly. "With a family."

"This poor creature was also a victim of the war." Fina bowed her head. "It's terrible..."

The Arcwhale seemed confused. _The Little Ones shed tears...for a Gigas?_

Vyse sighed, then sat down upon one of Rhaknam's massive pectoral fins. "You guys aren't our enemies. You're only as evil as the people controlling you are. It's that lack of choice that I hate. You didn't ask for this -- you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I spent a lot o' time wanderin' these ruins lookin' fer stuff to repair the _Little Jack_ with," Drachma said, at last. "An' I decided that the people who lived here prolly got what was comin' to them. While I was out sailin' lookin' fer fish, I found his old 'master's' tomb one day. They put 'er in a block of ice an' stuck 'er atop a mountain. Real pretty young girl, who died smilin'. I don't wanna know what was runnin' through 'er head."

Vyse blinked. "But Captain, if the _Little Jack_ was here with you the whole time, why didn't you just leave after you repaired it?"

To that Drachma shook his head and sighed, gazing down at the moon crystal. "I spent my whole life huntin' this Arcwhale...an' then he turns around an' saves me from Ramirez." He turned then and pointed past Rhaknam to where the _Little Jack_ rested on the far end of the room, its fishing nets bulging with small, wriggling fish that continuously changed colors. "I thought it was the least I could do to watch over 'im in 'is final moments..."

"Maybe...maybe it's not too late." Vyse suddenly sprang to his feet. "Fina! Can you look at his wounds? Can you heal him?"

The Silvite blinked wide eyes at him, looking almost alarmed. "Vyse, I...L-look at the size of him. I could never muster enough power to heal his wounds. In the old days it took many, many mages to heal a Gigas -- and those mages were far more powerful than I could ever hope to be."

* * *

The four of them stayed in the palace and caught up with Drachma over the next few days, aiding him in caring for the dying Gigas. Rhaknam did not speak much, and as the days passed his condition steadily worsened, his breathing growing labored and shallow. One day Fina and Aika climbed on to his back and, holding hands, began to channel green magic into his wounds. The Arcwhale opened his eye and addressed them with some amusement, his voice quiet and strained.

_Do not...concern yourselves...over me._ The muscles in Rhaknam's body slowly relaxed, and he heaved a tired sigh. _I will die for my Master...as any good Gigas should do._

"Dammit, Rhaknam!" Drachma shouted. "I told you I wasn't--"

He fell silent. Tears were pooling in the Arcwhale's eye.

"...What? What's wrong?"

_You are all...so very kind. I did not think Little People were kind._ He drew in a deep breath, but it came out in a loud wheeze. _I am glad the silver one could hear me and bring you here._

Cupil slipped out from Fina's sleeve and squeaked quietly down at Rhaknam. He looked sad.

_No...I do not feel the pain anymore. I do not feel...anything..._ Rhaknam struggled to pull in another breath. _I have fulfilled my purpose. There is no reason for me to continue to hold on._

Drachma swallowed thickly. "...I see. Time fer you to move on, then. To join yer family..."

_Goodbye...friends..._ Rhaknam's eye slowly closed, and a few tear drops squeezed out of the corners, turning to ice as they hit the ground. _Thank you for being...so kind..._

The Gigas fell still and exhaled one final time, his breath weakly leaving his lungs. Drachma slowly sank to his knees and, for the first time ever, really and truly began to cry.


	29. Polar Opposites

"Oh no you don't." Doc pushed Vyse back down into bed as he feebly tried to get up, eying his captain sternly. "You were down there for four days. It's a wonder this didn't get worse sooner."

"I'm fine, Doc! Really!" the rogue protested, wracked by a coughing fit immediately afterwards. "It's not that bad. I promise I won't do any more heavy work. I'll just stand at the helm all day."

"Is he being stubborn again?" Aika poked her head through the doorway, grinning. "Relax, Vyse. We safely towed the _Little Jack_ back into mid-sky. You don't have to do everything yourself, you know."

"Grah." Vyse fell back onto his pillow and glared up at the ceiling, as if it was somehow the _Delphinus_' fault that he had gotten sick. "I'm just worried about the Captain. Have you gotten him to come inside?"

Aika shook her head slowly to that, appearing fully in the doorway. "He won't leave the _Little Jack_. I think he just wants to be left alone. Fina and I tried talking to him, but...he's a real mess."

Vyse sighed. "...You sure I can't get up, Doc?"

Doc folded his arms across his chest. "You said it's going to take us almost a week to get back to South Ocean. Your old Captain needs our help to get through the sky rifts, so he's not going anywhere anytime soon. So just relax, alright? Take your medicine, get lots of rest, and you'll be better before then."

Vyse moved to reply, but was caught by another coughing fit that caused his chest to clench in pain. He gripped it tightly, wincing. "Argh. I'm not supposed to get sick. I'm the captain."

"That's why you have three vice-captains." Aika put her hands on her hips. "Don't worry. I'm sure Drachma will be fine. These things just...well, they take time sometimes. Remember how I never left my room when my parents first died? I was devastated."

"Death is hard to cope with, no matter who you are." Doc shook his head. "I've lost my fair share of patients, and that's not easy. Even Maria's had to face the loss of her family."

"Hm? You're not Maria's father?" Aika blinked.

"Didn't I tell you? Must have been Vyse." Doc closed his medicine bag and then leaned back thoughtfully against Vyse's bedside table. "Before they promoted Admiral Diaz, a different admiral was in charge of Valua's covert operations. His name was Admiral Fernando Mendosa, and I worked aboard his ship as his personal doctor. Mendosa had two daughters, both of whom were daddy's little girls. Maria was the younger of the two by several years, and everyone on board the ship adored her. She was a little burst of sunlight on an otherwise dreary vessel.

"But one night there was a terrible accident, and Mendosa's ship sank. I managed to save Maria and flee in time, but the rest of her family was not so lucky. She had to watch as the entire ship, with her family still on it, fell into the clouds. I guess it was too much for her young mind back then, because she hasn't spoken since."

Aika gasped. "That's terrible! No wonder she always looks so sad."

"You don't think the Captain's going to turn out like that, do you?" Vyse asked between coughs.

Doc shrugged. "I'm the wrong kind of doctor to be telling you about that. But I will tell you one thing: if you let him dwell on his past, like I foolishly let Maria dwell on hers, he'll never get better. Take that how you will...but it's probably time for the poor old guy to move on."

* * *

Vyse spent the next five days bedridden, much to his extreme frustration. Aika and Fina took turns caring for him, and Enrique would occasionally come in with a board game to help relieve his ennui. The ship was noisy, as everyone stayed indoors to avoid the cold, and half the crew was still recovering from their own illnesses. It nearly drove the rogue captain up the wall. 

The next day Vyse felt well enough to get up, and he rolled out of bed, donned some actual clothing, and returned to the bridge. There, Aika, Fina and Enrique stood at the window as Lawrence quietly manned the helm, the latter carefully watching icebergs pass as the former stared down at something on the deck. Blinking, Vyse joined them at the window only to find Drachma down below, leaning against the railing as he watched the clouds.

"He came to see you," Enrique said. "But you were sleeping and we didn't want to wake you up."

"How long has he been waiting out there?" Vyse asked.

"About an hour," Aika replied. "We tried to get him to come inside, but he said he wasn't ready to deal with people yet."

"Oh. Well...did he say what he wanted?"

Enrique shook his head lightly. "He murmured something about a box of feathers. I couldn't understand him."

Vyse's eyes widened slightly, and he bolted from the room. "Meet me down below. It's probably really important."

Drachma didn't turn right away as they emerged out on deck wrapped in their winter clothing, but he smiled sadly upon seeing Vyse with the box. He looked like he hadn't slept in several nights and generally hadn't been taking care of himself any more than he had to, which did little to ease the rogue's concern. The old captain slowly approached him and held out a hand, and Vyse hesitantly handed the box over, watching him with questions in his eyes.

The chill wind whipped all around them, biting through their clothing and sinking its teeth into their flesh. Vyse watched soberly as Drachma trudged over to the _Delphinus_' railing, cradling Jack's keepsake in his good hand. The fisherman was defeated, every last one of his emotional walls having been torn down in one fell swoop. For the first time ever he looked his age -- he looked older than his age. Drachma appeared shriveled and ancient.

The old fisherman had no tears left to shed; those had frozen on the floor of Rhaknam's chamber long ago. All that remained of his past now rested in his hand, and it was with great reluctance that he opened the box, turned it to the side, and let its contents scatter to the winds. The brilliant feathers swirled and danced around him before flying off in all directions, vanishing into the mists and into the clouds. He watched them emptily until they were gone from sight, his shoulders slumped and his face unreadable.

"Captain...I'm sorry..." Vyse said, quietly.

"...Ain't nothin' you coulda done, boy. Even if you had come sooner." Drachma did not turn, but instead stared up at the Purple Moon. "...But damn, regret is a bitter taste."

The rogue had no response for that. Instead he bowed his head.

"I'm...I'm lost, boy..." Drachma said, quietly. "I don't know what to do now. Rhaknam was my purpose for livin'...an' now 'e's gone. I don't get him _or_ Jack back." He sighed, leaning against the railing as his gaze fell to the clouds. "Wonder what my wife would say if she could see me now..."

"I think she would be proud of you for being so strong," Fina replied, quietly. "This whole time, you never gave up."

"Hmph. But fer the right reasons?" Drachma shook his head. "I gotta wonder what I been fightin' for all this time. I spent all my years...all my money...and fer what?"

"Your son and your crew were _that _important to you." Vyse frowned. "My dad always told me that a captain is nothing if he doesn't care for his crew, and I try my hardest to make sure I look out for mine. You would have followed yours to the bottom of the clouds and beyond...and it's that dedication that makes you an awesome leader.

"Captain, you may not realize it, but while you may have lost some lives, you also saved many others. Aika, Fina and I owe you several times over, and the people of Nasr and Ixa'Taka and even my dad's crew are safe in part to _your_ actions! I want to take you inside the _Delphinus_ so my crew can meet the man who taught me to sail and taught me to fight. Because without your guidance, Captain, I know I never would have made it this far."

"Boy..." Drachma quirked his mustache. "Hmph. I'm proud o' you. You really have become quite the sailor."

"Heh. It's a little weird to hear compliments coming from you." Vyse smiled.

"Don't get used ta it. That's probably the last of 'em." Drachma turned and strode to the other end of the deck, where the _Little Jack_ was tethered to the _Delphinus._ "...I ain't stickin' around."

"What?" Aika asked, dismayed. "But Cap'n! We finally met up again! There's so much for us to see and do together..."

Drachma shook his head ruefully. "Lass, when yer as old as I am...it ain't easy to change yer ways. With Rhaknam gone I have to start all over...an' that's one hell of an undertakin' after all this time. All the sudden I can feel each an' ever' one of my years in these bones...and as much as I want ta go with you four, I just can't. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Captain. We understand." Vyse smiled, although he could not mask his disappointment. "We'll tow you through the sky rifts, then, and let you go."

"Hmph." Drachma leaned over the railing and frowned down at his fishing nets. "...Coulda made a fortune off these things, but there's no use now. Guess I'll dump 'em and lighten the load."

"You were feeding those to Rhaknam, right?" Vyse felt guilty asking, but a promise was a promise. "Are those...moonfish?"

Drachma frowned and snatched a fish out of the net. It was a relatively small creature, with a bulbous head, small fins and a pudgy body. Its scales were so fine that they looked like flesh, and they shone in every color imaginable. It squeaked in protest as the fisherman held it up, trying to wriggle out of his iron grasp. "Aye...they're moonfish. Arcwhales love 'em. Real serious whalers use 'em as bait, but I never could afford 'em."

Vyse hesitated. "We have someone who needs moonfish. Well...his adopted daughter does. Do you mind leaving a few pounds with us?"

"Hmph. Take 'em all, I don't care. Never heard o' anyone who _needs_ moonfish, but after all this there's very little I won't believe anymore."

* * *

Vyse called in some of his crewmembers to help transfer the _Little Jack_'s nets onto the sides of the _Delphinus_. They looked incredibly out of place hanging from the flagship, but he wanted to surprise Doc and had no way of getting them inside the cargo hold without landing. Drachma was eager to leave, however, unable to stand the Lands of Ice any longer. Vyse got the feeling the old man would have left even sooner had he not needed the _Delphinus_ to tow the _Little Jack_ through the sky rifts; it upset Aika greatly, but Vyse knew their former captain needed his space. 

At last the Purple Moon began to sink behind them and the sky was free of ice. The horizon was covered by a thick band of white, which flowed like a cold mountain river towards the east. The four of them left the bridge to visit Drachma one last time, and they gathered on the deck of the _Little Jack _to say their goodbyes.

"On the other end of this rift is South Ocean. Remember when we sailed through there?" Vyse smiled a little.

"Aye. That was a hell of a time. Felt like we were in there ferever. I think this time I'll just let the winds carry me back ta Nasr...or wherever they want ta take me."

"I remember when you dumped us in Maramba. I was so angry." Aika grinned a little. "But I think a part of me always knew you'd come back for us. You even shot at Recumen to buy us some time!"

"Heh. The fight that followed weren't too pretty."

"And yet you continued to lend us your ship and your time." Fina clasped her hands over her chest. "No matter how crazy or dangerous our quest was, you supported us all the way – even though it could have gotten all of us killed."

"The more I hear about you, the more I admire you, sir." Enrique smiled. "You will always be welcome in Valua when I have at last returned it to a just path. I wish you all the luck in the world."

"Don't gotta be so formal, lad. S'long as you travel with these three, you and I ain't so different." Drachma nodded at him. "You had it all, an' you were willin' ta toss that aside. I think you've got more guts'n I do."

Enrique chuckled a little. "For better or worse, I guess."

"We're gonna miss you, Cap'n." Aika gave him a hug. "You have to come visit us on Crescent Isle someday, alright?"

"Please be safe." Fina hugged him as well. "We'll be praying for you."

"Captain...before you go, I wanted to tell you something." Vyse untied the scarf from around his neck and tied it around Drachma's mechanical arm instead. "You said that you and Rhaknam were both alone. But you're not alone, Captain. We've been with you the whole time! No matter how far apart we become, we'll still be sailing in the same sky." He grinned. "The same sky, the same clouds, the same wind...we'll always be together in one way or another. We'll never forget you!"

"Aw...hell..." Drachma gave a saddened half-smile. "Lookit the three o' you, meltin' an old man's heart. Maybe I will visit you...someday. Farewell!"

It was with great reluctance that they returned to the bridge and set the _Delphinus_ into motion again. The _Little Jack_ remained tightly fastened to her side, and together the two ships worked their way through the powerful winds of the sky rift. When they emerged sometime later, they were greeted with a familiar sight: cloudy skies, churning mist, and cyclones large enough to swallow islands. Vyse could feel the winds of both the rift and South Ocean trying to tug their ships to the east, and smiled at the memory of their journey through it so many moons ago.

Drachma strode out on deck long enough to cut the _Little Jack_'s mooring and then went back inside. The _Little Jack_'s sails instantly filled with wind and it abruptly shot off, soaring into the clouds and vanishing. Vyse sent his own ship in to a climb towards the relative calm of Upper Sky, but he continued to stare in the direction Drachma had left until he felt a tiny hand upon his shoulder.

"Poor Captain. Do you think he will return to us when he feels better?" Fina asked, concerned.

Vyse smiled. "I'm sure he will, someday. We're his family now."

* * *

Later that afternoon Vyse went down into the galley, where Doc was cleaning up the remains of his makeshift clinic. Maria sat on the counter of the small bar that Polly usually tended, offering fresh water to her lethargic looking bird. It cheeped at her apathetically and began to take small pecks, but didn't seem terribly thirsty. She frowned at it and patted it gently, looking thoroughly depressed. 

The rest of the galley was empty, although he could hear Polly and Urala working back in the kitchen. Polly was chatting prolixly as usual, and he wasn't sure if she was trying to teach Urala Meridian or if she was just rambling on as she sometimes had a habit of doing. The room smelled a strange mixture of baking bread and medicine, and his nose wrinkled a little in protest.

"Hey, Doc," Vyse said.

"Oh, Vyse!" Doc stood and wiped his hands off with a small white towel. "How you feeling?"

"Much better. You were right, I really did need to take it easy," Vyse grinned.

"Eh, don't feel bad. You went down with the rest of the ship." Doc laughed.

"Yeah, so they've been telling me. Heh, I heard you knocked Khazim out with some kind of drug."

Doc waved a hand dismissively. "It's standard-issue cold medicine. Ilchymis made it himself. He'll be fine."

"I really appreciate you taking care of everyone like this. I admit I didn't really expect this place to be so...harsh. I'm not sure what I was expecting, really." Vyse smirked. "Anyway, are you busy right now? There's something I thought you and Maria should see."

Maria lifted her head and blinked owlishly over at him. He couldn't tell if she was interested or not.

"Well, nobody's falling at my feet and dying right now, so I think we should be okay." Doc was wry. "What's up?"

"Here, come out on deck with me." Vyse beckoned to them. "It's outside."

Doc blinked, then tossed his towel onto the table he had been working at and followed. Maria hopped off the counter and did the same, toting her bird along with her.

The sun had finally emerged outside and slowly began to defrost the ship. Drops of water rolled off the _Delphinus _and trailed in her wake, glittering in the pale light, and a fresh breeze blew down from the north, carrying on it the scent of moist earth. Aika and Fina were out on deck waiting for them, grinning mischievously as they held a large metal bucket between the two of them. Doc blinked in confusion as he saw their expressions, looking from one girl to the other.

"...Okay, what's this about? You two are scaring me."

Aika beamed. "The Cap'n left you guys a present! Wanna see?"

Still eying her, Doc jammed his hands in the pockets of his coat and shuffled over to the bucket to peer inside. Immediately his eyes widened, and he stared at the three of them in shock.

"Moonfish..."

"Actually..." Vyse pointed to the side of the ship. "Look down there."

Doc jogged over to the railing and leaned over, giving a cry of disbelief. He looked back at Vyse and then down again, shaking his head incredulously.

"Two _nets!? _Do you know how much money you're sitting on here? You're kidding me, right?"

Vyse laughed, thumping a fist against his chest. "Doc, when Blue Rogues set out to do something, they do it the absolute best they can. The Captain was a skilled fisherman and he spared no expense with what he caught. These fish were to help save that Arcwhale we were caring for down in Glacia...but now maybe they can help save Maria's bird instead."

The little yellow ball of fuzz in Maria's arms suddenly stirred as it caught the scent of the fish. Without warning it wriggled out of her grasp and bounded over to the bucket, causing Aika and Fina to drop it in surprise and send the moonfish spilling everywhere. The bird peeped excitedly and began to hop around, snatching them up in his bill and downing them in only a few gulps. It was the most Vyse had seen the young animal move since he had met the two, and he had to boggle at the abrupt change in its behavior.

"Wow, look at him go!" Aika laughed. "He's gonna be fat in no time!"

"He's going to eat the whole bucket..." Fina blinked. "Is that normal?"

Doc watched in a stunned silence. Maria simply stared.

The five watched the bird over the next several minutes as he continued to gorge himself on fish. When the entire bucket was at last empty, he hiccuped and then waddled tiredly back to Maria, whereupon he fluffed up like a giant dandelion and fell asleep at her feet. Maria blinked and scooped the downy ball up, poking at him gently. After a moment, she looked up at Vyse and gave a tiny smile.

"...Thank you."

"M-Maria!?" Doc cried. He looked ready to faint.

"Whoa, easy there, Doc! Careful!" Aika blinked as she caught him, trying to steady him against the _Delphinus_' rail. "You can't faint on us – you're the doctor!"

"I-I'm fine. I'm fine, it's just...it's like I told you." Dazed, Doc shook his head. "I haven't heard a word out of her for almost seven years..."

Smiling, Vyse knelt before Maria and gave her bird a little pat. "You're welcome, Maria. For you, it's no problem. We brought you more moonfish than you'll ever need."

The little girl's smile grew. "Piccolo is so happy! Thank you."

With that Maria clutched the bird to her chest and wandered back inside the ship. Doc watched her go with teary eyes, shaking his head in continuous disbelief.

"...I don't even know what to say. Vyse, I owe everything to you. I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

"Aw, geez...don't get all teary-eyed on me, Doc," Vyse replied. "Nobody should have to go through what she did. We'll take good care of her, I promise."

"Heh...wow..." Doc wiped his eyes and finally stood, staring at the door leading back into the _Delphinus_ for a moment. "Guys like you really do just drop out of the sky, don't they?"

Vyse blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing." Doc chuckled, shaking his head again. "You just remind me of this guy I used to work with. He was a lot like you: honest, kind, the type of guy that everyone likes. Well, he was a lot more refined than you though. His name was Ramirez. I heard he's become an admiral now."

Now it was their turn to be blown away. Fina stared at the man searchingly, clasping her hands over her chest.

"You knew Ramirez?"

Doc blinked. "What, do you as well? Wait..." He blinked again and stared at Fina, as if seeing her for the first time. "I knew you looked familiar! Your clothes...I'd recognize those anywhere. Those were the same kind of threads he was wearing when we met so long ago."

Fina's eyes widened. "He's my brother! Please, Doc! You have to tell me how you met him. Tell me what you know about him."

"Well, uh...okay." Doc scratched his head, his eyes growing distant as he reminisced. "It was a long time ago, back when I was still working for Admiral Mendosa aboard his ship. We were patrolling Mid Ocean one night when our lookouts spotted what they described as 'dancing stars'.We went out on deck to find a trail of silver sparks streaking across the sky...it was unlike anything we had ever seen before. Something happened, though, and the sparks suddenly became engulfed in fire. We watched it crash on a nearby island and went to investigate.

"What we found was a bizarre ship, a little teardrop-shaped thing made out of silver and glass. Inside of it was a young man who had been knocked unconscious in the crash. I distinctly remember his clothes...they were just like yours. We rescued him and brought him aboard, and when he woke up he turned out to be even more odd than we were expecting. We were all surprised at how little he seemed to know about the world, but he was so honest and so sincere that everyone loved him. He said his name was Ramir, but because he was traveling with us, he adopted the Valuan name of Ramirez.

"Ramirez turned out to be as intelligent as he was good with a blade. Admiral Mendosa saw potential in him and began to train him personally to become an officer of the Armada. He had high hopes for Ramirez...and I, too, was glad to finally have a crewmate who seemed trustworthy, someone I could call a friend..."

* * *

Ramir's hands trembled as he donned the ornate black and gold armor that had been laid out for him in his cabin. It was far heavier than the ceremonial mithril plating the soldiers at home wore, but it had been custom-forged for him and fit perfectly. The admiral had spared no expense in commissioning it for him, and that made the Silvite marvel somewhat. Before he left, the Elders had told him not to trust anyone, least of all the Island Dwellers. But this man, this Mendosa, had shown him nothing but kindness and hospitality, and he owed him his life. With a small smile, Ramir buckled his sword around his waist, tucked his helmet under one arm, and then drew in a deep breath. He was as ready as he ever was going to be. 

A bit self-consciously, the Silvite ducked down the hall and made his way to the bridge, where Mendosa, his family, and the Doctor were waiting. They beamed at him as he entered, and he dipped his head shyly in response, stopping abruptly as a little girl ran by his feet. She giggled as he nearly tripped over her and then ran off, her golden ringlets bobbing behind her.

"M'lord, I have come as you've asked..." he said at last, bowing slightly before the admiral.

"Punctual, as always. I wish I could say the same for some other late risers." Mendosa grinned jovially at the Doctor, who returned with a sheepish expression. Reaching in to his heavy gray jacket, Mendosa then produced a small golden disc, presenting it to Ramir with a smile. "Here. This is your officer's medal. Ramirez, from this day forth, you are a member of the Valuan Armada. Hold your chin high!"

Ramir gingerly took the medallion and held it up to the light. It was embossed with two dragons winding around each other and had a single striped ribbon hanging from the bottom. Beaming, the Silvite clipped it on to his breastplate and admired it for a time, watching the way the light danced across the surface.

"Thank you so much for all your help, m'lord," he said with a sincere smile. "You have done so much for me."

The Doctor applauded to that, grinning widely. "Way to go, Ramirez! I always knew you'd make the cut."

Ramir bowed. "Thank you as well, Doctor."

Doc rolled his eyes. "Why do you keep calling me 'Doctor'? I told you, just 'Doc' is fine. That's what everyone else calls me."

Ramir only shook his head. "Impossible. That would be rude."

Mendosa laughed. "You two never change. I just want to let you know, that you two are like sons to me – the sons I never had. I hope I can count on you as my right hand men."

"M'lord, yer being a little greedy there, aren't you?" The Doctor grinned down at the admiral as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "M'lord already has two beautiful daughters of his own, and yet now he wants sons too?"

The admiral chuckled and shook his head. "That's not what I mean. All I'm saying is that you two can count on me as you would a father. Alright?"

That struck a chord in Ramir, and he stared at Mendosa with stinging eyes. He barely remembered his own father, who had died shortly after Fina's birth. The fact that this man was willing to take on that role for him spoke volumes, and it made his heart swell in his chest. He laughed a little bashfully as he blinked away tears, ducking his head to hide his expression in his platinum hair.

"M'lord, you...have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you."

* * *

"The guy never spoke about his family, so I didn't ask. I figured he must have been pretty lonely back wherever he came from, because he began to view Mendosa as something of a father figure in turn." Doc rubbed his chin musingly. "And Mendosa really seemed like a family man, so I thought it was great that he was doing what he did. Ramirez would often--" 

He was cut short as the sound of a small ringing bell tinkled from somewhere inside the _Delphinus_. His ears immediately perked at it, and he lifted his brow curiously.

"Oh...that's Maria. I guess it was silly of me to hope that she'd just stop the silent treatment thing altogether." Doc rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll have to continue this story another time for you. If you have spare time, don't hesitate to bother me."

"I-I understand. Thank you for sharing what you have thusfar." Fina bowed a little. "It's...a little different from the story Enrique told me. Perhaps when I have all the pieces, I can put them together and figure out what happened..."

"Heh. You two really are a lot alike." Doc grinned. "I'll see you guys later. And...thank you again, I mean it."

* * *

Seeing Nasr was a welcome relief after a month in the arctic lands. Crescent Isle was even more so relieving, and the crew spent much time either lounging in the sun or playing in the water. Aika in particular spent most her free time sunning on top of the deck outside the meeting room, and at one point Fina attempted to join her, only to return with a sunburn and awkward tan lines. 

Vyse, however, had other things to worry about. He and Enrique worked with Osman to get a count on cargo and supplies, and realized they were running uncomfortably low on several essentials. The _Delphinus_ and her crew burned through things faster than they could produce replacements on the island alone, even though Vyse had left a quarter of his crew behind to maintain the base while he was gone. The rogue captain looked over the numbers presented to him and bit his lower lip, sweeping his gaze over the relatively empty storage cavern that had been cut into the mountainside.

"How long would the rest of this last us?" he asked.

"Mm...perhaps another two weeks. Three if you're stingy." Osman tapped her chin thoughtfully with a fan, stooping to pick up her little pink cat as it rubbed against her practically non-existent ankles. "I dropped by Nasrad to sell off our spices, and noticed the Nasrean army managed to chase out the Valuan occupation. The economy's not entirely ruined. It should be safe to return."

"I wouldn't take the _Delphinus_ herself though, just in case," Enrique cautioned. "It's too high profile, and she eats up too much fuel. We'll have to borrow Izmael's ship or something."

"Borrow, or steal?" Izmael poked his head between the three and peered around scrutinizingly. Vyse blinked at him.

"Izmael, we're on the same team. Why would I steal your ship?"

"Hmm." The builder popped a nail in his mouth and began to chew on it. "Rumors are we _aren't_ on the same team anymore. You fly off for a month, and bam! All the sudden you're a Black Pirate! Izzat true?"

"What?" Vyse boggled at the little old man. "Where are you getting this from?"

"Jes some rumors floating around Nasr." Izmael stroked his beard. "Folks have been saying bad stuff about you all the sudden, and the crew was getting' antsy. But I figured, hell, Gilder always has somethin' nice to say about you, so it can't be entirely true. Gilder don't make buddies with Black Pirates."

Vyse blinked and exchanged glances with Enrique. "Would the Armada start propagating stuff like this?" he asked.

"Well, I wouldn't put them above it anymore, but it does seem rather odd." The prince was at a loss. "I don't know. Perhaps we can get more information in Nasrad, as long as we're careful about it."

"I really, really don't like this. It puts a bad taste in my mouth." Vyse sighed and ran a hand back through his hair. "Alright, well, Izmael, can we still use your ship? Or do you not trust me anymore?"

The builder shrugged. "I like ta think I grew outta rumors when I was about eight years old. Until you give me reason to believe otherwise, you can take it. Just be easy with her – new coat of paint and all."

"Heh, right." Vyse rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, let's ask Doc if we can take his ship too. I don't know if we can carry everything we need otherwise. But before we do any of that, I'm going to ask Fina where we're headed next. That way we can prepare accordingly."

Enrique nodded. "Sounds good. Shall we head up to the meeting room, then?"

"Yep. Meet you there."

The two left the storage chamber and momentarily went their separate ways. Enrique left to go find Fina, while Vyse caught up with his crew to make sure his cargo count was correct. He spoke long with his craftsmen to get a list of what they needed and to find someone who would volunteer their ship, but they were more than willing to help and he secured the two craft he needed. When all parties were satisfied, he tucked his notes away in his tunic and left for the meeting room, hoping he wasn't late.

Aika was up on the deck sunning again, so Vyse grabbed her reclining chair and dragged her inside when he got there. Enrique arrived soon afterwards with Fina, and the three settled into their customary positions around the table as Vyse unrolled a few maps and smoothed them out. He tossed some navigational equipment and some star charts on top of them as well and then flopped into a seat, propping one foot up on the table as he tucked a stick of charcoal behind one ear.

"Alright, you guys! Here's the deal. We're running lower on supplies than I expected, so we'll have to make a run to Nasrad for...well, almost everything. This is good though, because we can prepare for our next voyage way ahead of time." He leaned back, gazing at the map with a lopsided grin. "Six moons and four crystals so far. All that's left is Yellow and Silver. Any thoughts, Fina?"

She smiled. "We don't have to worry about the Silver Crystal. It already rests safely in the hands of the Silvite Elders. So really all that's left is the Yellow Crystal."

"Wow." Aika clasped her hands together as she leaned her elbows against the table, staring down at the map. "I can't believe our mission is almost finished. It felt like we'd never get there." Abruptly, however, she frowned. "But the Yellow Crystal is in the Maw of Tartas, right? We couldn't even get in there last time."

Enrique chuckled. "Ah, the Maw of Tartas. When my mother found out what it actually was for, she was like an excited little girl. The Armada made several attempts over the years to break the seal, and all of them failed miserably. It really did a number for the egos of Vigoro and DeLoco."

"But if they couldn't open it, that means we can't either." Aika drooped. "The _Delphinus_ is a Valuan ship, after all."

The four of them fell silent at that. Abruptly Enrique shook his head and stood, heading over to one of the bookshelves to peruse its contents. He plucked an old text out and began to thumb through it, his brow furrowed in thought.

"What are you doing?" Vyse asked.

"It's only a matter of time before they have a breakthrough and take it from us." Enrique frowned. "If that crystal makes it into Madera, there's no way we'll be able to get it back out."

"Do you have any ideas?" Fina asked, quietly.

"I do, actually. Well, the beginnings of one anyway." The prince smiled kindly. "I haven't touched these books since University, though. I need to make sure I've got my facts straight."

"It must be nice to be able to afford so many books." Vyse folded his arms back behind his head. "I've had a grand total of six my entire life, and they were all about astronomy and navigation. I read them so much that their bindings wore out and now they're losing pages."

"Heehee, I remember that. Your dad brought those for you, didn't he? He brought my gardening books too." Aika beamed. "Those were the best things we ever stole from the Armada. I wish I could read better."

"Aha! Here we go." Enrique brought the thick leather-bound tome over to the table and set it in the middle, displaying a hand-drawn diagram of an island with cracks underneath it. "You guys ready for a little lesson in geology?"

"What's geology?" Vyse asked.

Enrique chuckled. "It's a study of rocks and the earth. I won't use any big words, I promise."

Aika grinned and tossed the towel she had been laying on at him. The prince laughed as he failed to dodge and it fell over his head.

"Hey!"

"Heehee, sorry. We're listening, Professor."

"Okay, well." Enrique pulled the towel from his head and tossed it back at her, losing his beret in the process. "As you already know, the Yellow Moon has strange and often violent effects on the Valuan continent. It causes constant thunderstorms in the sky, but it also causes frequent earthquakes in the ground. The last big one was about eight years ago, and it completely flattened the coastal city of San Frederico. Did anyone hear about that?"

"Vaguely." Vyse nodded. "I remember my dad saying that a bunch of Blue Rogues were heading up there to help out the refugees, but Aika and I were too young to go so he didn't take us."

Enrique nodded in turn. "San Frederico was one of the worst quakes we've recorded in modern history – thousands of lives were lost. It shook the continent so hard that we could feel it all the way south in Madera. The geologists of the Valuan Empire have been studying these earthquakes for decades, trying to figure out ways to predict them so we can prevent disasters like San Frederico from ever happening. And in the process, they've learned some really interesting things.

"Supposedly, the lower levels of the Valuan islands are full of cracks and fissures. The fissures are where plates in the earth collide, drawn together by the Yellow Moon. They're what cause the earthquakes. The cracks, however, are caused _by_ the earthquakes. Apparently, in ancient times, Valua was rocked by an earthquake so violent that it ripped open a series of interconnected caverns in the bottom of the continent. The geologists theorize that these caverns predate even the Yellow Civilization."

Fina nodded. "When the Yellow Civilization first began, they built cities in those underground caverns so that they would be safe from the constant storms. Eventually they developed a great interest in the storms and the stars and so they moved above ground instead, but the underground cities were never fully abandoned until after the Rains."

"Well, see, that supports my idea even further then." Enrique grinned triumphantly. "See, I was thinking...if there's all these cracks under Valua, one of them has to open up somewhere. And if people lived there, they needed ways in to and out of their homes. So if we sailed under the continent like we did to rescue Captain Drachma, we might be able to find a tunnel that leads into the Maw of Tartas."

"So you think we can actually bypass the seal Yafutoman style?" Vyse blinked. "The Silvites sealed him away, right? Would they leave an opening like that?"

"Well...yes. The crystals aren't supposed to be impossible to get – just extremely difficult." Fina smiled a little. "The more I think about it, the more it seems likely that the seal wasn't necessarily meant to keep the Gigas in; it's probably meant to keep people out. And it's working quite well."

"Huh. Well, sounds good to me. I'd love to see what an underground city looks like." Vyse grinned. "So do you have any idea where we might find a tunnel opening?"

Enrique pursed his lips, then flipped through a few pages until he came to another diagram. It was a hand-drawn image of two balls of light, chasing each others' tails.

"On extremely clear nights, some sailors have seen this phenomena while sailing along the eastern coast of Valua. It's in Lower Sky, and our geologists have confirmed its existence as a result of either dense moonstone concentration, or the presence of a tremendous source of electricity. They're called the Dancing Lights, and they've been there forever. Could they be something left over from the Old World?"

"It's possible." Fina nodded. "Yeligar's presence alone would likely be enough to cause something like that. But that also makes me worry."

"Worry?" Aika asked. "Why?"

"Because Yeligar may still be channeling electricity even while he sleeps," Fina replied. "And if that's true, he'll fry the _Delphinus._ Remember what Bluheim did to it when we fought her? Her ability to create lightning is nothing compared to his."

"The _Delphinus_ is insulated and protected from its own electric power, but I imagine it's worthless against a Gigas." Enrique rapped his fingers against the table thoughtfully, staring out the window. "I wonder if it would be possible for us to put a layer of rubber between the armor plating and the hull so that shocks don't channel into the ship."

"Rub-her? What?" Vyse boggled. Aika swatted him on the arm.

"Rubber. It's made from the extract of a tree found in Ixa'Taka. The Ixa'Takans have actually been using it for a very long time," Enrique explained. "When Valua occupied Ixa'Taka, we learned how to make rubber from the natives and that's why we were able to really expand on our electrical inventions. It's a natural insulator that stops electricity dead in its tracks. Aika's goggles are actually made of rubber."

"Really?" Aika plucked her goggles off her head and poked at them curiously. "I always thought it was some strange kind of leather. Weird."

"I take it this is exclusive to Valua though. Would we be able to buy any?" Vyse asked.

"Well, you know the saying: 'if it's not in Nasrad, it's not anywhere.'" Enrique shrugged. "Valua filters Ixa'Takan lumber through the Nasrean market all the time, so I wouldn't be surprised if they sold rubber too."

Vyse grinned. "Well, there's always a plan B if we can't buy it. We haven't stolen anything from Valua since we left with the _Delphinus_. We're really overdue."

Enrique laughed. "I'm going to be a good prince and pretend I did not hear that."

* * *

The next day the four of them departed with a handful of crewmembers for Nasrad. Vyse and Enrique cast off in Izmael's ship, aptly named the _Hammerhead, _while Aika and Fina followed behind in Doc's boat, _La Ni__ñ__a. _It was a beautiful day, not blisteringly hot as far as Nasr was concerned, with a perfectly clear blue sky and a steady breeze that blew down from the north to fill their sails. The favorable winds bought them a great amount of time, and made the trip all the more pleasant. 

Even though the _Hammerhead _was far slower than the _Delphinus_, Vyse found sailing the ship to be enjoyable. As amazing and powerful as the _Delphinus_ was, he had grown up on sailboats, and for him nothing beat the feeling of a traditional sailing ship. Initially, he admitted to Enrique as they traveled, he had felt almost dirty flying a Valuan vessel – not because it was Valuan, but because it didn't have sails.

"That's like sacrilege for air pirates," he said with a grin. "I can only think of one other pirate who flies a metal ship."

When Nasrad finally came in to view, the two of them were impressed to see that it had largely recovered from Valua's attack and was picking itself back up again. Repairs had clearly been made to the outer walls and the entire harbor had been rebuilt, allowing dense traffic to come and go as it always had. As far as Vyse could tell it was business as usual in the marketplace, with massive crates and carts of goods being hauled all over and people in brightly-colored clothes swarming the stalls by the thousands.

The city was hardly as beautiful as it had been when he had first visited it with Gilder, however. Rubble still littered many places, especially the residential areas, and some houses were still crushed under large chunks of debris. It had once been a colorful and vibrant city, but most of it was still swathed in a dingy brown or streaked with long black scorch marks. The royal palace was covered in scaffolding, and people scrambled over it like ants, rushing to fix it back up again. He supposed Nasrad would be most interested in getting its commerce back off the ground first before anything else; it was the backbone of the city, after all, and fed them the money to further repairs.

"The will of the Nasrean people is amazing," Enrique commented with a smile. "I guess they found Ramirez's weakness."

"You mean he has one?" Vyse arched a brow.

"Each of our admirals do – I know you've seen that." The prince was wry. "Ramirez is very...how shall I put this? Very here-and-now, I suppose. He prefers striking fast and hard, without warning, so that his enemy can not fight back. It worked beautifully with Nasrad, but he also didn't think ahead. He forgot that three quarters of the Nasrean navy was guarding the South Dannel Strait. I'd wager that when they heard about the attack, they sailed in and routed the First Fleet."

Enrique pointed out the window to the city before them. Dozens of orange metal ships prowled along the perimeter of Nasrad, occasionally stopping incoming traffic to inspect it. Vyse didn't remember them being there before.

"Heh, security's a lot tighter around here. Can't say I blame them."

Enrique nodded. "The Nasultan died in the attack, but Nasr currently lacks the resources to feasibly declare war against Valua again. Instead they've established a trade embargo, which is almost as bad."

Vyse blinked. "Doesn't that mean we're out of luck if we look for Valuan goods in Nasrad?"

"Quite the contrary." Enrique grinned. "Nasr always has a surplus. They're probably trying to get rid of it at half price."

Vyse brought the ship down without harassment into the harbor, where he had to wait half an hour for a dock to open up. He couldn't help but to spare a glance at the sky as they moored their vessel, but the only ships hovering above the city were Nasrean. As the rest of his three-man crew disembarked, he tugged his lists out of his tunic and tore them into long strips, splitting them between the group.

"Each of you is in charge of finding certain things. This will make shopping easier and faster, because let's face it – we're not girls. We all hate shopping." He grinned. "We're buying all the heavy-duty stuff, so make sure everything is delivered here to the _Hammerhead_ instead of Doc's ship. _La Ni__ñ__a_ just can't carry it. Other than that, you're free to do what you want. Just meet me by the fountain at four, and if you couldn't find anything we'll figure out what to do from there.h

"Aye aye," the three of them replied, before heading off.

"Hey, Vyse," came Aika's voice from behind him. He turned to find her there with Fina, slinging her messenger bag over her shoulders. "Sorry we didn't catch up with you sooner. We had to dock way over in a corner."

"Ouch," he replied. "You guys gonna be okay hauling stuff out there?"

"Hey. Just because we're girls doesn't mean we're weak." Aika smirked, then nudged the Silvite beside her. "C'mon, Fina. Let's go show Macho Man how tough we are."

Fina giggled. "I don't think he meant it like that."

"I-I didn't!" Vyse protested, causing the two of them to laugh. "I was just saying--"

"I know what you were saying." Aika waved a hand. "We'll be fine. Fina and I know Nasrad really well. I'm going to treat her to a little personal shopping before we get the stuff we need. Four o' clock, right?"

"Yep." Vyse grinned. "Don't spend everything."

"Just for that, I'm going to blow all my gold on something ridiculous." She swatted him. "Seeya!"

Enrique blinked after the two of them, looking a little confused. Noting the look, Vyse elbowed the prince and then slung one strap of his backpack over his shoulder.

"Better get used to it," he teased. "I'm sure Moegi's no different."

Enrique's grin in response was almost guilty.

Navigating Nasrad was no easier than navigating Ixa'Taka's jungles. Everything was flooded by a sea of people, and the two of them had to struggle against the current to get anywhere they needed to go. Half the time Vyse couldn't see anything over the heads of the people and the goods they were carrying, which threw his sense of direction completely off. It only grew hotter as the day went by, the sun above causing heat to ripple off the paving stones and from the ships that flew past overhead.

The only thing more frustrating to him than trying to get anywhere was bartering with Nasrean merchants. Each one tried to strangle all the gold that they could out of him, and he couldn't help but to feel like he was being swindled regardless of if he actually was or not. They were smooth talkers and shrewd bargainers, and if it weren't for Enrique's diplomacy Vyse knew he would have been out far more gold than he already was. While Vyse had only picked up a sparse bit of Nasrean from Drachma and Fina, Enrique spoke it quite fluently and the merchants seemed more receptive to someone willing to barter in their native tongue.

"You learned a lot in University, didn't you?" Vyse asked as they left one of the stalls.

"Given the already strained relations between Valua and Nasr, it would have been a terrible idea for me _not_ to learn it," Enrique pointed out. "Mother's had several meetings with the Nasultan in the name of 'peace', and sometimes she'd bring me along."

"Would they recognize you here?"

The prince shrugged. "At the palace, maybe. But I wouldn't dare go near there right now."

"Hey, you! Stop!"

The two of them froze and slowly turned around to see two Nasrean guards rushing for them with a frightened looking woman in tow. As they neared, one of them drew a pistol and removed the safety, holding it at his side.

"Are you Vyse?" he demanded.

Vyse raised a brow. "Yeah?"

"Do you mind explaining why you thought it appropriate to rob this woman?" he asked.

Vyse and Enrique blinked, staring at the man.

"What are you on about?" Vyse asked. "I've never seen this woman in my life."

"He lies!" the woman sobbed. "Look, he even changed his tunic to try and get away! He took my purse! My entire life's savings were in there!"

"Wh-what?!" Vyse cried. "I don't steal from innocent people! You've got the wrong guy!"

"Now hold on. Calm down a minute here. Let's be rational." Enrique held a hand up. "Miss, you're sure it was Vyse that robbed you?"

"Positive." She nodded vigorously. "He's been stealing from people everywhere in Nasrad this past moon! His face is all over the wanted posters."

"Is that so? That's very interesting. We just docked here today," Enrique replied. "Where did he assault you?"

"In the plaza, by the inn," she said. "I-I was defenseless!"

"That's curious." Enrique pointed past them to the market stalls. "We've been over there for the past hour doing business with that merchant. If you do not believe me, please, by all means, go speak to him. We just bought several pounds of rubber."

The two guards looked at each other. One nodded, and the other went off to approach the merchant. After several minutes he returned, looking confused.

"Their story checks out, Sarge. All business transactions were legit."

The sergeant grunted. "You want to tell me there's two guys named Vyse out there who look exactly alike? Someone's lying to us here."

"If you wish to conduct a full investigation on us, be our guest," Enrique said. "We have nothing to hide."

"Heh. Never heard that one before." The sergeant rubbed his chin. "Perhaps you did not rob this woman, but there's still the other charges stacked against you. We're going to have to bring you in."

"But Sarge, this guy doesn't match up to the information we've been given," the other officer protested lightly. "All sightings have seen him with two female accomplices."

The sergeant peered closely at Enrique, frowning. "..._Is_ this one male?"

Enrique's mouth twitched as he fought back a scowl. "We _are_ talking about the same Vyse here, correct? The Blue Rogue who has defeated the Armada, broke out of the Grand Fortress and kidnapped the Valuan prince? That Vyse?"

"The air pirate," the sergeant replied.

"Ah, but there's two factions of air pirates," Enrique pointed out. "Has a Blue Rogue ever committed crimes against Nasr?"

The two guards exchanged glances.

"I would think that the enemy of your enemy would be welcome in Nasr," the prince continued. "If he's been defeating admirals and sinking entire fleets, why in the world would he be committing petty theft in Nasrad? Do you not wonder where he would get the time to do so, even if he wanted to? The Empress wants his head on a pike, you know."

"So what do you propose, pirates?" the sergeant demanded, twirling his pistol on his fingers. "That you're being framed? That there's an imposter running rampant in our city?"

"Wait, so if you're the real guy, than who's he?" the second guard asked, pointing to Enrique.

Vyse grinned. "That would be the 'kidnapped' Prince."

The three of them went pale.

"Miss, I'm sorry that all this is going on, but I assure you I wasn't the one who attacked you," he continued. "If I find the guy who's doing this, I'm going to personally beat the crap out of him and get your money back, but we can't exactly linger here in Nasrad for long. If you'd like, I can give you some money to compensate for everything that's happened."

"No...No, I..." The woman wiped tears from her eyes, suddenly looking timid. "I believe you. The man who attacked me acted nothing like you. All I've managed to do is insult a hero and a prince. I'm sorry." She looked terribly embarrassed.

Vyse and Enrique chuckled. "Nobody's insulted. We're just kind of baffled," Vyse said. "We haven't even _heard_ of all this until now because we've been so tied up with Valua." He then turned to address the sergeant, who suddenly looked very nervous. "Sargent, if an incident like this comes up again today, I want you to come straight for me – both to prove to yourself that I'm not the one doing it, and to inform me that it's going on. If you can't catch this guy, I'll do it for you. I won't be leaving the bazaar anytime soon."

"Y-yes, sir," the sergeant stammered. "I cannot guarantee you'll be able to continue your business about Nasrad without harassment, however."

Vyse shrugged. "I'll deal with that as it comes. What do I have to worry about if I'm innocent?"

"Yes, sir. Of course." The sergeant cleared his throat. "Come, madam. We'll go back to the office and file a report. I beg your pardon, Sir Vyse. Your Majesty." And with that he bowed and the three of them left, leaving Vyse and Enrique to stare at each other until they had been swallowed once again by the crowd.

"Enrique, what just happened? Did he call me sir?"

"I think we kind of blew their minds." Enrique grinned guiltily. "So much for us keeping a low profile."

"Seriously. I thought they were going to drag you in for sure," came a somewhat familiar voice. The two blinked and turned to see Aika and Fina emerge from behind a nearby stall. Except...they had changed.

The two of them had gotten new versions of their old outfits, done completely in black and red. Aika had dyed her hair purple and it looked a little more tame than usual, plaited into two neat braids. She looked either tired or bored; he couldn't tell which but her expression wasn't as lively or interested as it usually was, and she licked a lollipop while staring at him expectantly. Fina looked outright irritated, which Vyse had actually never seen in her before; somehow her features were hardened and almost more angular looking. He and Enrique did a double-take, staring at them open-mouthed.

"What the hell did you do?!" Vyse cried. "You were serious about the money thing?"

Aika rolled her eyes. "Of course I was serious. I don't joke when it comes to money." She nodded to Enrique. "Not bad, by the way."

"Uhm...thanks..." Enrique replied, blinking.

"Listen. We've got a problem," Fina quipped, folding her arms across her chest. "I think our doubles have shown up in town. We've been running from the guards all day and I'm frankly sick of it. Are we going to get out of here or what?"

"No. When I find them, I'm going to confront them," Vyse replied. "This will only get worse if we let them stick around. They're making life way more difficult than it should be right now."

"I hear that!" Aika stretched lazily. "You sure about this, though? Do you think those guys can actually fight?"

"Uhm...I'm more worried about you two." Vyse blinked. "Are you alright? Did those guards really give you that much trouble?"

Aika chuckled throatily, then threw herself onto him and draped her arms around his neck. He blinked, bewilderedly. "Aw, he's worried for once! I think the Red Moon froze over." She laughed, then jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Fina. "Don't mind her. She's been grumpy since we left."

"Aika...what are you doing...?"

"What did you...?" Aika suddenly froze and stared up at him. Abruptly she let him go and dashed over to Fina, and the two began to whisper animatedly between each other. Again Vyse found himself exchanging glances with Enrique, but the prince looked equally lost.

Finally the two girls finished and returned to him, smiling brightly. "Sorry!" Aika said. "Just was making sure I didn't forget something. So, uh, where are you off to?"

"We were going to find something to drink. We just finished our shopping." Vyse blinked. "You're...sure you're alright? You're acting very odd..."

"I-I'm sorry. The sun...and these crowds...and then all this trouble with our imposters..." Fina frowned. "It's so upsetting. I'm very tired. Please, can we go rest?"

"I think a rest is certainly in order for all of us." Enrique nodded. "There's still an hour left before the crew returns. Let's get out of this heat for a little while."

The two girls smiled sweetly. Vyse couldn't place why, but it left a terrible feeling in his stomach.

* * *

"Isn't it cute?" Aika beamed, holding up two pieces of an outfit. "I think it'd look great on you! Blue and white are definitely your colors." 

"I-I really appreciate you trying," Fina replied, smiling shyly, "But I really do not wish to purchase anything here. I wouldn't be allowed to wear it when I went home."

Aika pouted. "What? Why not?"

Fina smiled. "Silvite clothing has a purpose. They're like the different uniforms everyone in this city wears." She pointed to the circuit-like design ringing her waist. "It probably looks all the same to you, but these patterns have a special meaning. They're like the badges the guards wear – they tell you who a person is and what it is they do. The pattern on each person's clothing is a little different depending on who they are."

"But if you wore this, then you'd _really_ stand out!" Aika protested. "Everyone would know who you are. That's good, isn't it?"

"Deviance is generally frowned upon." Fina smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry."

Aika wasn't sure what she meant by that, but it was clear she wouldn't be able to convince Fina to buy anything for herself. With a melodramatic sigh, she folded the clothing back on its table and thanked the stall manager for letting them look before continuing on. She supposed it was just as well; the two girls had bags full of medical supplies and various herbs and ingredients for both Polly and Ilchymis that they had to lug around. The latter had caused Fina to faint when she saw some of them, as a few items were a bit gruesome in nature.

The sun was beginning to sink in the sky, but it wasn't quite four and it was only growing hotter. Finding themselves with some free time on their hands, the two girls visited Kahalla at the inn and then Capal at the bar, which was empty save for two sailors at the counter. It seemed to have survived the attack unscathed for the most part, and nothing had really changed from what Aika could see: it was still clean, still quiet, still dimly lit and still overpriced. As they entered, Capal came out from the back room and beamed.

"Aika! Fina! What a pleasant surprise!"

"Heya, Boss!" Aika grinned. "How's things?"

"Agh, a mess." Capal shook his head. "Valua's attack sure was bad for business. And when you left, Gilder went with you – that was half my income right there!" He laughed.

"Really? He hasn't been by at all since then?" she asked.

"Nope. But I know the guy...he's a real dog. Probably out chasing another pretty face somewhere. Guy's got a woman in every port." He chuckled, wiping down the bar. "So what's new with you two? Did you ever find Vyse, or did he get thrown in jail?"

"Why would he be thrown in jail?" Fina blinked.

"What, haven't you seen the wanted posters around town?" Capal jerked a thumb over at the opposite wall. "The whole city thinks you three are Black Pirates."

The two girls stared at him and then ran over to look at the poster on the wall. It was a black and white sketch of a young man with two women, and while it was a little off there was no mistaking who they were. Aika gazed at it in utter disbelief, reading the text scrawled on the bottom out loud. "'Wanted, dead or alive, twenty-thousand gold reward: Vyse the Fallen Pirate and his two female accomplices, Aika and Fina. Crimes include the looting of Nasrad during Valuan occupation, robbery, breaking and entering, resisting arrest, assault with a deadly weapon and grand theft battleship. Please contact the Nasrean Guard with any information.'"

"W-we didn't steal the battleship. Enrique gave it to us..." Fina said, blinking. "And why would they say we did those things when we didn't? Who would do such a terrible thing?"

"Well, that's the thing. I didn't believe it from the start when they came in here to tack that thing up," Capal said. "When I imagined the two of you committing those crimes...Well, I couldn't imagine the two of you committing those crimes, really! I could spot a criminal in this tavern from a mile away, and that certainly isn't you two."

"Fina...do you know what this means?" Aika blinked. "Someone must be impersonating us."

"But if they were impersonating us, wouldn't they be doing good things?" Fina asked.

Aika shook her head. "Don't you remember? Izmael said a while back that Vyse was really famous around here. These losers are probably using our names and our accomplishments to intimidate people and get what they want!"

Fina gasped. "That's terrible! Oh, Aika, I don't want everyone to think we're bad people!"

"They won't." Aika punched a fist into her gloved hand. "Because we're gonna stop them. I'm gonna find those two hags dressing up like us and beat them into a pulp! Ooohhh, this makes me angry!"

Just then the door opened and a very irritable looking Vyse trudged in. He seemed to have dumped his traditional clothing for a red tunic and a yellow scarf, and he had refitted the lense in his goggles from an eye patch shape to a normal circular cut. The rogue looked hot and disheveled, and it gave him an older appearance as he paused to catch his breath in the doorway, stooping over and leaning against the frame.

"What the heck happened to you?" she asked.

Vyse blinked up at the two of them. "...Wow, you two look good. Where'd you get all that stuff? It looks like the real deal."

Aika rolled her eyes. "Of course it's the 'real deal'. I told you I wasn't going to waste our money." She paused, eying him. "...You look terrible."

"Really? Geez, I never would have known." He glared at her, causing both her and Fina to blink. "You'd think I was running from guards all day or something."

Aika frowned lightly. "So you know about our doubles?"

"Yeah. They're stirring shit up all over town. The guards are finally starting to figure out what's been happening and are combing the place for us." He shook his head. "They've got the one thing we don't: a prince. I still can't find a suitable look-alike for that guy."

The two girls blinked at each other, then looked back at Capal. He gave them a slow nod and then disappeared again into the back room.

"Could you...excuse us a sec?" Aika asked, and then pulled Fina aside, leaving the rogue to tiredly flop into the nearest seat he could find.

"That's not Vyse!" Fina whispered, her eyes wide. "He talks very mean to you. And he has freckles on his face."

Aika nodded. "I know. This troll looks nothing like Vyse. Did you hear what he said about finding a look-alike for Enrique? This guy's one of our imposters!"

"But what should we do?" Fina asked. "He seems to think that we're his partners."

Aika snapped her fingers. "That's perfect! We'll just play along!"

Fina blinked. "What?"

"If he continues to think we're his partners, then we should be able to lure him over to the fountain at four o' clock," Aika said, grinning wickedly. "And then, when Vyse sees him..."

Fina gasped, then covered her mouth to repress a giggle. "Aika, that is terribly sneaky of you."

"Isn't it? This'll be fun." Aika snickered. "Okay, uhm...I don't know what his partners are like, but if they're anything like him they're probably big jerks. Just act as mean as you can, alright?"

"Uhm...I'll try..." Fina replied. "I won't have to hurt anybody, will I?"

Aika shook her head firmly. "Absolutely not. We're just going to mess with this guy. C'mon."

Aika took Fina by the hand and tugged her back over to where the imposter Vyse was waiting. He lifted his head as they neared, and sure enough she found her suspicions were confirmed: he looked similar, but he was most definitely not her childhood friend. He frowned at her and she frowned at him, placing a hand on one hip expectantly.

"Well? You screwed up. So now what?" she demanded.

"Dammit, Anita, I didn't screw up!" He pounded a fist on the table. "I didn't expect the real thing to turn up in Nasrad. Last time I saw the _Delphinus_, it was headed south!"

"And you didn't expect it to come back?" Fina asked.

"Not this soon. Last time he was gone for four months." The imposter dropped his head to the table. "Well, we knew it was only a matter of time before they heard about us and showed up. This isn't quite according to plan but it will have to do."

Aika's thoughts raced. What did he mean by that? What was the plan?

"What'd you do with the rest of the money?" she asked instead.

"It's on the ship. I had to move it into the main harbor though. Sneaking out isn't going to be terribly fun." He stretched, tiredly. "Not unless we can get our hands on the _Delphinus_, heeheeheehee."

"Well, why are we still here then?" Fina asked. She paused, awkwardly, and then added, "Uhm...idiot."

The imposter snickered. "You sound unusually uncertain, Faina. Are you that worried about him?"

"No...uhm...I really don't care. I hope he gets a splinter. In his eye."

Aika had to force herself not to facepalm.

The imposter sighed. "Being sarcastic for a change, huh? Well, whatever. I was kinda hoping I could meet the guy, but that would probably ruin things – it's way too early now. Let's blow this place and head for Sailor's Isle instead. I was kind of getting tired of these ragheads and their goofy accents anyway."

"...Right." Aika gestured for the door. "After you."

Grumbling slightly, the imposter stood and headed for the door, not even waiting to see if they would follow. The two girls hesitated and threw a glance back at the bar, where Capal emerged from the back room long enough to give them a small wave and to mouth the words, "good luck." Aika smiled slightly at him and then followed the fake Vyse out, huffing slightly as the dense, hot air assaulted her lungs again.

The sun was sinking lower in the sky, bathing the city in subtle oranges and glinting warmly off the enormous fountain in the center of the plaza. Aika squinted and spotted the three crewmembers she and Fina had brought with them – Belle, Lilly and Nara -- sitting around the pool. Two of Vyse's hands – Khazim and Domingo, from what she could tell -- had joined them, but Vyse himself and Enrique were still absent. Either she was early or they were late; absently, she wondered how long she would be able to stall the imposter and if he would make a break for it if he saw the real Vyse coming. Well, she figured, that was what ice magic was for.

As they began to pass the fountain, Aika felt her stomach knot somewhat. This was the moment of truth. Reaching out, she grabbed the imposter's arm and shook her head, frowning. "Hold it. I need to sit down for a sec. I'm not feeling too well."

"It can wait," he told her. "We have to get to the ship."

"You want me to puke all over the place? That's real inconspicuous." She glared at him. "Just for a second."

"Fine. Whatever." He rolled his eyes. "If we get caught here, though, it better be because you were dying of some serious illness."

Feigning a groan, Aika shuffled over to the edge of the fountain and sank down at its side, clutching her stomach. Out of the corner of her eye she could see two familiar figures emerge from the bazaar, but they were being followed by two others as well. She wanted to look but didn't want to risk it, instead gagging and leaning over the water as if on the verge of vomiting.

"What is this all the sudden?" the impostor demanded of Fina.

Fina opened her mouth to reply, but no answer came. She couldn't lie; it was taboo for her. "I...don't know."

"Faina..."

"I-I said I don't know. Please don't look at me like that." She clenched her fists, staring down at her feet. "You're a very bad person and I hate you."

Somehow Aika got the feeling that she meant every word of it.

The imposter only snickered at that. "That's...what? The thirteenth time today you've told me that? Except you were less nice about it the other times. What's the--"

He fell short. His gaze drifted past Fina to something behind him, a strange, wide-eyed look crossing his features. Aika lifted her head only to find Vyse there with the exact same expression on his face, accompanied by Enrique and two startled looking women who looked very familiar. The ensuing awkward silence dragged on for what seemed like hours, broken only when Vyse suddenly raced forward and tackled his doppelganger to the ground. The two wrestled for a brief moment but Vyse was by far the stronger of the two, pinning his adversary with little effort and striking him clean across the face.

"I ought to hit you harder than that!" he cried. "You think this is funny? You think this is some kind of joke? Dozens of innocent people think that _I_ hurt them!"

The imposter stared up at him, then began to laugh. Vyse clenched his teeth but restrained himself, grabbing the man by the scarf and giving him a rough shake instead.

"It's the hero!" the imposter declared, laughing even harder. "I knew the real Vyse wouldn't stand for this for long. It's great to finally meet you! The pleasure is all mine!"

"Vize, really..." the real Faina began, frowning at him irritably.

"What a mixup! Delightful! Splendid!" Vize shoved Vyse away and sat up, beaming at Aika and Fina. "You two really had me going there. And that says a lot. I used to be an actor, you see. My specialty? Impersonations." He grinned, wickedly.

Aika frowned. "The only thing you're acting like right now is a creep. Why are you doing this?"

"Quite simple, really," Vize replied. "A little while ago before our show got canceled, I found that we could pull off you guys really well. So well, in fact, that if we threatened people enough, they'd just throw their money on the ground and run away screaming. It's made my life quite simple. I don't do a thing, and I get rich! All thanks to you! Bwahahahaha!"

Vyse twitched and hit him again.

"Ooh...now...why do you have to be so rough like that?" the real Anita cooed. "I think you need to relax, Big Boy. Why don't you forget about all this and that red-headed man-girl and come with me? I'll show you the true treasures of this world."

Vyse looked back at her with a sort of frightened expression on his face while Aika positively fumed. Vize took the opportunity to pick himself up and wipe his mouth, drawing two red moonstone cutlasses made in cheap imitation of Vyse's weapons and brandishing them commandingly. Anita and Faina brushed past the others to join him, looking smug as they did so.

"We weren't really expecting you to show up this soon, but that's okay," Vize said. "However, it does present a little problem. You kind of make it difficult for us to be you."

Faina flicked her veil back, looking down her nose at them. "So we're going to have to ask you to die. Then we'll become the real Vyse and crew, and nobody will be the wiser."

"It's nothing personal, really." Vize gave a sage nod. "Alright, you two. Let's show them how it's done."

Aika wasn't sure what was going on, but she backed up so that she was with Fina, Enrique and Vyse, all of whom were staring at the imposters in utter confusion. Anita produced a boomerang and together she and Vize charged, only to hit an abrupt halt with a loud crunch several heartbeats later when they slammed into a justice shield. Behind them, Faina faltered a spell she was attempting to cast and stared.

"What the hell are you two doing?" she demanded.

Aika grinned at Enrique. "You really like abusing that, don't you?"

Enrique turned sheepish. "Abuse is such a harsh word..."

"HEY! Hey, that's not fair!" Vize rebounded to his feet and thrust a finger at Enrique. "You can't use that guy! That's cheating!"

"Don't like four on three odds, huh?" Vyse smirked. "Why didn't you consider that before attacking us?"

"Why you little...Come here!" Vize growled and took several successive swings at Vyse, his blades bouncing harmlessly off the shield each time in small shards of green light. That only served to infuriate him farther, and he swung faster and faster until Vyse hit him for a third time and toppled him back to the ground. By then a pretty sizable crowd had formed around the fountain, attracted by the commotion and laughing boisterously over what was going on.

"You really, really need to quit while you're ahead." Vyse said.

Vize uttered a string of curses long enough to make Drachma cringe.

"If you guys are done making idiots out of yourselves, we'd like to drag you to jail now," Aika said, putting a hand on one hip impatiently. "It's getting late, and we'd like to get somewhere before sundown."

"You two are useless." Faina heaved a suffering sigh at Vize and Anita, then closed her eyes and began to focus, weaving arcane patterns in the air. "I'll take care of this. Moons! Bless u--"

Fina extended a hand and uttered a word in Glacian. Faina suddenly gasped and clutched at her throat, exhaling a faint purple mist. She stared at her twin and moved her lips, but no sound would come out.

"I know what you are trying to say, and those are all very bad words," Fina said, quietly. "You're a very poor imitation of me. You don't even have a Cupil."

"What the heck's a Cupil?" Anita demanded.

Cupil suddenly appeared behind the two of them, inflated to several times his size. As they turned, he opened his mouth and grinned wickedly at them, displaying several rows of sharp, pointed teeth that he had grown. The two girls screamed – or Faina tried to anyway – and scrambled away from him as fast as they could, ducking behind Vize instead.

"Vize! Do something!" Anita cried. "That thing's going to eat us!"

Vize snarled and rose to his feet, brandishing his cutlasses again and charging for the Apis. He took a swing and Cupil blinked away, only to appear back above the imposter, closer to his regular size. With a furious squeak, he opened his mouth and latched on to the top of Vize's head, clinging to it like some bizarre sort of hat. Vize dropped his weapons and began to panic, flailing around.

"Oh moons! Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff!" he yelled. "It's going to eat my brains! Anita! Help!"

The crowd was dying of laughter by now. Anita threw her boomerang at Cupil but Aika tossed her own and knocked it out of the sky. When it returned she tossed it again and hit her double straight in the nose, and she wailed and dropped to the ground, screaming about how her face was ruined. That gave Aika more satisfaction than it probably should have, and she danced on her toes anxiously to make sure they weren't going to try anything else. She almost hoped they would.

Finally, Vize dropped to his knees before Vyse and gazed up at him, as frightened as he was desperate. "Okay! Okay! We surrender!" he cried. "Just get it off of me!"

Aika swept her hand out and froze the three of them in place. Fina nodded to Cupil and he removed himself from Vize's head, floating back over to her with a smug chirp. The imposter rogue looked ready to faint in relief.

"Man, you guys really _are_ the real deal. You spent this whole time just messing with us..." Vize panted. "I never imagined you would be so strong. No, I'm being serious!"

He and Anita raised their hands in surrender, but Faina just sat there and stewed, boring a hole into the back of his head with an icy glare.

"This is fantastic! Stupendous! It really was destiny that we met this day. I'm so inspired!" Vize went on, grinning like a school boy. "You're uh...you're not gonna kill us, right? I promise we don't do anything illegal anymore. We're really just huge fans of yours! Honest! You wouldn't kill your fans, right?"

"Please, Big Boy?" Anita purred, batting her eyelashes at Vyse. "Pleeeeaaaase?"

Faina coughed up more purple vapor and scowled. "This is pathetic," she wheezed. "I told you we never should've gotten involved in this stuff in the first place."

Vyse put his hands on his hips. "I guess technically we could have you killed, but I'm about as big on that as I am you impersonating me," he said. "I'll make you a deal. You stop using our names to harm people, and I'll leave you alone. You're at the mercy of the Nasrean guards, though."

Vize beamed. "Oh, don't worry! We'll be out of here before they catch up to--"

On cue, several guards emerged from the crowd with shackles. He cried out in alarm as he found his arms pinned behind his back, and as an afterthought Aika removed the ice so that the guards could heft him and his accomplices to their feet.

"Hey! Hey now. We're actors, not criminals! It was just an elaborate farce! A performance! I'm telling you!" Vize whirled around, staring at Vyse desperately. "Tell him, Vyse! Tell him you were in on this all along! You wouldn't let them drag your biggest fan off to jail, would you?"

Vyse grinned. "You want to be like me, right? Well, I've done my fair share of jail time – in a Valuan prison no less. You should consider yourself lucky you've got it so easy!"

"Consider it research." Aika grinned wickedly.

She had expected to goad an angry response out of him, but instead a little lightbulb flickered on above Vize's head. "BRILLIANT!" he cried as the guards began to drag him, Anita and Faina away. "When we get out, we'll start a Vyse and Crew lookalike show! There'll be action! Magic! Comedy! Intrigue! It'll be a smash hit!" He squealed excitedly, then called out to them in a perfect imitation of Vyse's voice as they vanished into the crowd, "Stop by if you're in the area! You can guest star on our show!"

The four of them and their handful of crewmembers stared after the three con artists as they finally disappeared and the crowd dispersed. Aika shook her head and sighed, turning to look at her best friend.

"What a weird day," she said. "I can't tell if those three really have it together or if they're just a bunch of flakes, but I'm kind of creeped out now."

"Those guys must have been following us around for months before this. Did you hear how well he did my voice?" Vyse cringed. "I guess I should be flattered, but..."

"I'm sure they'll be dealt with fairly." Enrique smiled. "Here's hoping they stick to their word and do something productive with their...er...talents, hm?"

"I still don't think I like it." Fina hugged Cupil to her chest. "That lady was very mean. I'm not like that at all, am I?"

"Of course not!" the three of them cried in unison.

Aika laughed. "Fina, I watched you struggle just to insult Vize. I don't think you have a mean bone in your body. Don't worry about it, okay?" She turned then, and grinned at Vyse. "So you found our fakes earlier as well, huh? Nice to see you and I had the same idea."

Vyse blinked. "Idea?"

"Yeah, you know...convince them you're Vize, and lead them down here to the fountain. We pretended we were Anita and Faina and did the same."

"Oh yeah...right, right." Vyse grinned sheepishly. Aika stared at him.

"...Vyse. You didn't actually think that was me and Fina, did you?"

Vyse held up his hands apprehensively. "Heh, no! No way! I-I know you two better than that. I think. I mean--!"

"You're unbelievable! She was such a tramp! AGH!" Aika pulled her hair in frustration. "They weren't even close! You're so blind!"

Vyse grinned guiltily. "At least this means we don't have to see you in tight black leather, right? Although Vigoro might appreciate that..."

"Vyse! I'm gonna kill you!" she cried.

He laughed and bolted for the harbor, and she gave chase right on his heels, leaving a confused crowd and a confused crew behind. Somewhere behind her, somebody called, "Don't worry about tearing him into pieces! We already know where to find a replacement!"


	30. Shock and Awe

_CLANG!_

"Shut up!"

_Clang! Bang! CRASH!_

"Go to bed already!"

_Takkatakkatakkatakka...BONG!_

"Vyse! Make them stop!"

"Vyse!"

"Vyyyse!"

Vyse groaned and rolled over in bed, tossing his pillow over his head. "All of you be quiet!" he called.

_GRANG!_

"Argh...Dammit..."

Begrudgingly, the rogue hefted himself up and squinted out the window. It was plenty dark out, despite the rosy light of the Red Moon high overhead; he would have guessed it to be around two in the morning. With a sigh, he rolled out of bed, donned a pair of pants and shoved his feet in his boots, not really bothering to buckle up either as he stumbled out into the night. The lights in plenty of houses were burning, and many people were poking their heads out the windows, glaring in the general direction of the _Delphinus_' port. In fact, the only person he didn't see was Aika, who he could hear snoring lightly across the way.

Vyse shambled down the stairs leading from his room and followed the road to the east. The blue and white flickering of a welding torch blazed from the mouth of the port cavern, and he had to shield his eyes as he ducked inside. It stopped soon after he entered, and he peered down below to see Kirala hanging from some scaffolding on the _Delphinus_' bow, studying her handiwork proudly. Upon noticing him there, she grinned up at him and held up the torch.

"Great thing!" she called up in heavily-accented Meridian. "Love it!"

"Heya, Captain!" Brabham waved from atop one of the guns. "Work's going fantastic!"

"Yeah...Brabham...about that..." he called.

"Oh, I know, I know. We know it's late. This is the last time we do this, I promise."

"Brabham, you said that last night. And the night before. And the night before that. And--"

"Oh, but it's different this time!" Izmael suddenly popped up beside Brabham, beaming and thrusting a hammer into the air proudly. "Ba-BAAAM! We're all done!"

Vyse blinked blearily. "...What? Really? You got the entire thing insulated?"

"You bet your buckle-swashing behind we did!" Brabham thumped his chest proudly. "Record timin', too! I wish everything was as easy to install as insulation."

"Did you test it? Is it shock proof?" he asked.

"Well, our diagnostic tests look promising." Hans smiled as he suddenly poked his head out of a maintenance hatch, his face smeared with grease. "Granted, we can't ever hope to generate Gigas-sized gigawatts without a Valuan generator plant several times the size of the island, but so far so good."

"You're the experts. I'll trust you on that." Vyse yawned and stretched, wincing as his shoulders popped. "Now will you four please go to bed before the entire crew mutinies against me? They're really mad."

"But we still haven't hooked up the--" Brabham began.

"You can do it in the morning when we're stocking the ship up." Vyse waved a hand down at them, feeling a little irritated. "C'mon. Get to bed or you won't get your share of the loot next go round."

"Bah! Whoever heard of a boss that _wants_ you to take a break?" Brabham gave a toothless grin.

"I know, I know. I'm a terrible captain." Vyse turned and tiredly trudged back towards the village. "Goodnight."

Everybody rose late the next morning, throwing all the day to day activities on Crescent Isle way off schedule: breakfast was eaten at lunch, nothing – including the people – was washed until mid-afternoon, and the _Delphinus _wasn't fully restocked until four o' clock in the evening. Vyse found himself mildly irritated by the tardiness that had resulted from his engineers' antics the night before until he realized how much he sounded like his father and quickly shoved such thoughts aside.

He helped where he could and relaxed when he couldn't, spending most of his time thumbing through the old astronomy books brought over along with Pow from Pirate Isle. By now most of the pages had faded, were torn, or were falling out altogether, but the rogue handled it with extreme care, tracing his fingers over the hand-painted diagrams as he read to himself. Not all of the words made sense and some were too big for him to make out in his mind, and a part of him felt ashamed that he never had the opportunity to become as educated as Enrique. The wealthy got educated and the poor did not, and that was pretty much that; he hadn't really cared about it before, but the longer they worked at Fina's quest, the more important knowledge seemed to become. He was now traveling with several brilliant people, and deep inside he feared that he would look like a bumpkin to the rest of the crew by comparison.

There came a sudden knocking on his door. Vyse blinked and shoved a sock in the book to bookmark it, then stood to see who was there. He was surprised to find Lawrence, who looked even more unhappy than usual. In his hand he clutched a rolled up piece of black paper, which he proceeded to shove at his captain. Vyse blinked and unrolled it, but found that it was little more than a blank sheet cut into a perfect circle.

"...What's this?" he asked.

"...It came while you were gone," the mercenary replied, monotone. "You ever seen one of these before?"

"Er...no." Vyse blinked. "Should I have?"

Lawrence gave something of a smirk. "It's a Black Spot. It means the Angel of Death is looking for you."

"I guess I'm supposed to know who the Angel of Death is as well?" Vyse asked.

Lawrence darkened at that, eying him critically. "If you're a big time air pirate, I'd sure as hell hope so. She's the scourge of our kind, the only thing that is universally feared between the two factions. Blue, Black...she doesn't care what you are; if you fall under her notice she will hunt you down ruthlessly until she has a body to drag back in to collect a bounty on. I've been running from her for years, and it's only dumb luck that's kept me alive so far."

"A bounty hunter..." Vyse blinked, suddenly feeling a bit flattered. He was infamous enough to have bounty hunters after him! He couldn't wait to tell Gilder. "So, uh...this Black Spot is just a warning, then?"

Lawrence shrugged. "She sends them out to all pirates she manages to track down as an invitation of sorts. If the pirate is bold enough to face her, they can come to where she normally prowls near Sailor's Isle and fight her on their own terms. If they don't turn up in a certain amount of time, then she comes after them instead – and they're forced to fight on _her_ terms. That usually means assassination, if you're a bit dense."

"Heh. So I take it she knows where I live now."

"If that encounter you talked about in Nasrad told you anything, it should have been that you're the most recognizable figure in the world right now." Lawrence frowned. "Between you, and the _Delphinus_, and the people you travel with, you don't exactly blend in – which makes you easy to follow if someone can catch sight of you. I'm honestly surprised Valua hasn't found this island yet. They must be sidetracked with something else. Tch."

"Alright...I guess I'll just stick more to Upper and Lower Sky then," Vyse said with a small shrug. "Who was on lookout duty when this came, anyway?"

"Tika Tika."

"...and he didn't see her approach?"

"Heh." Lawrence turned and began to walk back down the stairs, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword. "...Sleep with one eye open, Captain."

* * *

The _Delphinus_ cast off early the next day, immediately sinking into the wispy gray clouds marking the lid of Lower Sky. Vyse couldn't help but to keep an eye on the eastern horizon until the island was well out of sight, Lawrence's warning still ringing in the back of his mind. Would this "Angel of Death" strike out at his crewmembers just to get to him? Would she harm the people he left behind to take care of their home? There were so many questions he wanted to ask the mercenary, but Lawrence did not ever seem to be in the mood to educate him. He supposed he just had to have faith in his crew and in this mysterious woman, who seemed to have some code of honor -- however skewed it was.

Traveling in Lower Sky was as awkward as it was difficult. It was hard to find landmarks, and those that they could see they couldn't recognize from the bottom. Vyse had sailed under very few islands before, and it was strange to see so many now from the underside. It was a colorless world of gray skies and barren rocks with roots poking out of them, and far down below raged a churning cloud mass more violent than, more angry than, and just as black as the Dark Rift. The low, hollow, eerie moan of the winds it stirred up in the distance was loud enough to be heard even above the ship's engines, and Vyse made sure to keep the ship as far away from it as he could. It was still miles and miles beneath them, but that made it feel no less close.

The continental shelf of Valua appeared before them that evening, as did two enormous balls of light the size of houses. They were formed of what looked to be pure moonstone energy, two ambient beacons that lazily swirled in a counter-clockwise direction, chasing each others' tails. Like a natural lighthouse, they beckoned to the _Delphinus_ and Vyse sailed right between them, guiding the ship underneath the continent and slipping away from the remaining sunlight. Within little time at all the sky had become solid earth and the ground had become roiling clouds, and everyone on the ship had to take some time to steady themselves and adjust to the suddenly inverted world. The vertigo combined with a pressure headache forced Vyse to take a rest, and he retreated to his room until Polly and Urala had dinner ready.

Despite their gloomy environs, most of the crew was in high spirits when he went into the brightly-lit galley. They sang and played music as they ate, and Merida danced to their songs in the center of the room, which made them all the happier. The two cooks buzzed between tables, trying to keep loqua orders fulfilled, and the scent of smoked meat hung tantalizingly on the air. Vyse's stomach rumbled at the thought of what might be waiting for him below, but as he gazed out to the table he always sat at, he found that only Enrique and Moegi were there. The two smiled at him brightly as he approached, and Enrique offered him a glass of wine.

"Good evening, Captain," Moegi said, her Valuan accent absolutely flawless.

"Hey, you two. Where's Aika and Fina?" he asked, peering into the wine glass dubiously.

"It's DeLa Cruz Burgundy. It won't kill you." Enrique grinned. "Last I saw of them, they were playing with Maria. I think she took them outside."

"Huh. Really?" Vyse paused to take a swig of the drink, and then made a face at the prince. "Man, this stuff is weak. No wonder they call it 'whine' – Valuan nobles love it."

The two of them laughed.

"Your tastes just aren't refined enough," Enrique teased.

"Thank the moons for that then." He grinned and handed the wine glass back. "Do me a favor and see if poor Polly has any Mur Loqua to spare? I know she's busy, so if not that's fine. I'm going to go find the girls, and then I'll be back."

Enrique nodded. "Sure thing. Be quick, though – Khazim's men are really tearing through the meal tonight. I don't think there's going to be leftovers."

"Heh. Will do." Vyse tossed a wave at the two of them. "Back in a bit."

Vyse left the galley and went back upstairs, heading out onto the deck instead. It was warmer out than he had been expecting; though no sunlight ever reached underneath the continent, a steady stream of warm air vented up from below, carried aloft by the winds of the eternal storm. As Enrique had guessed, the three girls were out on deck with Doc, kneeling down around something and talking excitedly in the light of three yellow moonstone lanterns. A rather large and fat looking Piccolo waddled around them, and Cupil had taken on a similar form, mimicking his every move.

"Hey you guys," he called. "Did you know it's dinnertime?"

The four turned to look over their shoulders at him, mildly surprised.

"Is it?" Fina asked. "I'm so sorry. We didn't realize..."

"It's alright. You'd just better get inside before everyone eats it all." Vyse threaded his thumbs through his beltloops, canting his head curiously. "What are you looking at?"

"Piccolo made a new friend," Maria said, holding up something large and fuzzy in the dim light. "See?"

Vyse blinked. What Maria was holding up looked like a common rabbit, but it was much larger, with wicked looking claws, fangs instead of bucked teeth, and eyes that gleamed like a cat's. The rogue flinched and stared at it, and it twitched its nose inquisitively at him, content to rest in the young girl's arms for the time being.

"That's the evilest looking rabbit I've ever seen!" he exclaimed. "Where'd you find that?"

Aika grinned and pointed upwards. Vyse lifted his head, only to find literally hundreds of rabbits hanging upside-down from the Valuan continent above them, staring at him with round, bright eyes.

"GAH!"

"They're called rabbats," Fina explained, patting Maria's bunny on the head. "They're the underground cousins of the common hare. Don't worry, they're harmless unless provoked."

"But...but where did they come from?" Vyse asked, staring up at the bunny swarm warily.

"From underground, silly," Aika replied. "Fina said they dig their claws into the rock and move around that way. Isn't that neat? I want to take one home and watch it walk around upside-down in the port."

"Aika! It's got _fangs_!" he said. "That thing's evil! Its diet probably consists of babies."

"Vyse, you're terrible!" She made a face at him, although Doc couldn't help but to snicker beside her.

"As funny as these little guys are, we were actually talking about how much of a good omen they were," Doc said. "Fina said they must have a burrow nearby...and for a colony this large, that must be one hell of a burrow. We're hoping they actually live in one of the cracks we're looking for."

Vyse blinked, gazing over at the Silvite. "You think we should follow the bunnies?"

"Well, uhm...yes." She blushed. "I'm sorry. Is that a bad idea? Enrique had the right idea with the lights, but we didn't find anything near them..."

"No, it's fine. It's just--"

"He doesn't think 'follow the bunnies' sounds heroic and cool." Aika grinned teasingly. "I'm sure he can't wait to tell everyone back home on Pirate Isle about the Yafutoman dragon, but you'll never hear him bragging to Gilder or Cap'n Dyne about the day we were led on by rabbits."

Vyse rubbed the back of his neck as the three chuckled at him, feeling a little embarrassed. Suddenly, however, he found Maria there peering up at him, offering the rabbat up for him to take. It was almost the size of Pow.

"You don't have to be afraid of the bunnies, Mr. Vyse," she said. "Piccolo thinks they're nice and that we should trust them. He won't bite, I promise."

Vyse hesitated, then took the rabbat from her and held it up to the light. It remained perfectly relaxed in his hold, staring at him with those strange, dark eyes.

"Can Maria actually talk to that bird?" Aika whispered a bit too loud, blinking up at Doc.

Doc only shrugged. "Sure seems like it. I don't know for certain, but either way they _do_ understand each other on some level. Come to think of it, even her older sister...ah...oh well. It's getting a bit late for stories."

"That's alright. We love your stories." Fina smiled a little. "Don't ever hesitate to share them."

"I've got you waiting on a certain one in particular, don't I?" Doc smiled wryly, scratching the side of his head. "Well, I can tell it to you now, if you're in no big rush for dinner..."

"Please?" Fina asked. "If the rest of you wish to go, you don't have to wait for me."

"No, I want to hear it too, if that's okay," Vyse said, handing the rabbat back to Maria. "I've only met Ramirez once, but it was enough."

"Me too," Aika agreed. "It's important to you, so it's important to us, Fina."

The Silvite smiled softly. "Thank you..."

"Well, alright. Let's see where I left off here..." Doc tilted his head back thoughtfully, peering up at the rabbats. "I told you how Ramirez and I met, right? Well, soon after that we were sent to Ixa'Taka, just after Valua had begun to occupy the area. The natives were rounded up and forced into slavery, and each ship in the area dispatched officers to oversee their work. Ramirez was one of the officers sent to work as an overseer, and he saw firsthand the cruelty and depravity the Ixa'Takans were being subjected to. This upset the poor guy to no end, and he personally went before Admiral Mendosa with his concerns..."

* * *

Ramir entered the bridge still fresh from the mines, covered in dirt and soot that tinged his pale hair an ashen color in places. He walked as a dead man walked, shoulders slumped, head bowed, dragging his feet behind him as if the armor he wore weighed a thousand pounds. Doc blinked at him concernedly as he entered, noting his normally optimistic friend's lack of life. As the Silvite neared, Admiral Mendosa rose to his feet and exchanged glances with Doc, who could only return with a clueless expression.

"What's wrong, Ramirez?" Doc asked. "Ever since we got to Ixa'Taka, you've looked troubled. Don't be afraid to speak your mind."

Ramir hesitated, halting before Admiral Mendosa and bowing his head. Finally he drew in a deep breath and looked up at Mendosa with pleading eyes, causing the man to give a startled blink.

"If I may speak freely, I feel that Valua is wrong in its ways...In the way it treats the Ixa'Takans," he said, softly.

Doc's eyes went wide. He could already see where this was going. "H-hey, wait a minute there, Ramirez!"

But the Silvite continued, emboldened by his beliefs. "Putting the people into slavery, forcing them to work long, dangerous hours in our mines...and all for Valua's profit? It's horrible! They're people just like we are!"

"Ramirez..." Doc protested.

Mendosa only shook his head, his expression grim. "Ramirez, you are absolutely right. I, as a father of two, feel the same way. I feel a sadness deep inside my heart for the plight of the people of Ixa'Taka. How's this, then? I will personally express these grievances with the Empress herself. Let me take care of everything."

Relief visibly washed over Ramir, and he bowed deeply to the admiral. "Thank you, m'lord. As always, you are too kind."

_-----_

_"I don't know what either of us was expecting, but nothing really changed even after Ramirez spoke with Mendosa. Then, one day, the two of us ran into Lord Galcian. Back then, Lord Galcian was still just another admiral in the Armada, but stories of his military prowess were spreading rapidly. Actually, the reason why Valua had so easily conquered and occupied Ixa'Taka was due less to our technological advances over the natives and more to the military feats of Lord Galcian. Of course, Ramirez went straight to Lord Galcian, being the root of all the evils in Ixa'Taka...and I'm pretty sure he would have hit the man if I'd let him..."_

_-----_

"Let me go! Let me GO!" Ramir struggled fiercely against Doc's hold, his hair flying every which way around him. "Lord Galcian! How can you treat human beings like this? It's despicable!"

Lord Galcian had been walking away back towards his ship, but now he paused, still as stone. Amusement flashed dangerously in the well-groomed admiral's eyes as he glanced back over his shoulder at the Silvite, a delicate brow raised. Doc knew that look well from his time around Mendosa; it meant someone was about to get punished.

"Ramirez! You can't talk like that to an admiral!" he hissed through clenched teeth at his friend, trying to yank him away. Ramir was surprisingly strong, however, and held fast, continuing to glare daggers at the back of Galcian's head.

"Stay out of this, Doc!" he replied, trying to elbow Doc away. "This has nothing to do with you. And no matter what happens, I know that Admiral Mendosa will stand up for me!"

To that, Galcian laughed a genuine laugh. His voice was a rich baritone, black as night and velvety smooth. "Admiral Mendosa? Heh...fool."

Ramir positively reeled at that, breaking free of Doc's hold and grappling for his sword. "What did you say?! How dare you speak ill of Admiral Mendosa!" Seething, he jerked his blade from its resting place in its sheath and brandished it at the older man. "I will not stand here and let you tarnish his honor! Turn and face me, damn you!"

Galcian still kept his back to the Silvite, but he looked more amused than ever. A strange smirk played at his lips as he considered the challenge for a moment. "It was not Mendosa that I was calling the fool. It is you, boy, who follow him so blindly, that is the fool."

"Wh-what?!" Ramir growled.

Galcian turned back then, gazing straight ahead of himself as he spoke. "People are not to be trusted. Depend on a person too much, and sooner or later they will betray your trust. All that leaves is power...and power will never betray you. That is why I search this land for an even greater power – and if such a power exists, I swear, it shall be mine." With that he began to walk down the hall again, long strides carrying him swiftly across the floor. "I have a feeling that one day soon you will understand the meaning of my words. When that day comes, I will be awaiting you."

All of the sudden Ramir's rage vaporized into thin air. The Silvite stood there dumbstruck, dropping his sword as he watched the admiral leave. Doc cautiously approached his friend and picked the blade back up, frowning to himself.

"Hey...don't let him get to you," he said. "Words are as much his arsenal as cannons are. But in the end, that's all they are – words."

"Yes...words..." Ramir frowned, taking his blade and slowly re-sheathing it at his side. "Let us return home, Doc. This place puts a bad taste in my mouth..."

* * *

"That marked the day that Ramirez began to change," Doc concluded, sighing softly. "Not drastically, mind you – but I could tell that he was growing suspicious of...well...everything."

Fina nodded slowly. "Before I left our homeland, I was told that I was not to trust anyone living here. Ramir was likely told the same thing...and Galcian's words must have only added to that mistrust."

"The thing was, though, that it was so subtle at first. Well, either that or I really missed the signs. Probably a little of both." Doc shook his head. "Ramirez was so naïve that rather than not trusting anyone, he freely placed his faith in _everyone_. And that...well, it really hurt him in the end."

"Because Mendosa betrayed him..." Fina whispered.

Doc blinked. "You knew?"

"I only know what Enrique told me." She clasped her hands over her chest. "He said that Mendosa had been lying to both Ramir and the Empress and that when Ramir found out, he killed him. Ramir was put on trial for his crimes but Lord Galcian defended him, and all the sudden he was seen as a hero instead. They've been working together ever since..."

"I'm surprised our prince knew that. Well, I guess I shouldn't be, actually." Doc shook his head. "Did he know what exactly Mendosa did?"

"Something about money?" Fina sounded confused.

"Well...yes, that's part of it. But it went so much deeper for Ramirez..." Doc sighed, watching Maria as she played with the various animals on deck. "...well, if she could finally overcome her past, I guess I can too. Here, let me explain...

* * *

"As I said, Ramirez started getting very suspicious after the day we spoke with Galcian. Something Galcian said must have hit a little too close to home...I don't know, but either way he started snooping around for information regarding Mendosa. And that's...that's when we found out that the slavery in Ixa'Taka was all Mendosa's doing. What's worse, he was using them for his own personal profit. He forced them to work a few extra hours here and there, and pocketed all the extra moonstones and gold that they dug up for himself. The shock of this discovery was almost too much for either of us to bear. Of course Ramirez, being Ramirez, confronted Mendosa directly about it..."

"M'lord! What is this?" Ramir slammed a handful of papers down on the heavy oak dining table, causing the bowls and candles resting atop it to jump slightly. "All these moonstones...all this money...and all those people! This is _your_ doing?!"

Mendosa leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. A few guards gathered behind him as he calculated the situation, an eyebrow raised at his officer. "Yes, it is. I fail to see the problem, however. Is there something wrong with wanting to make money? With desiring wealth and power?"

Ramir clenched his fists, the hardened leather of his gloves creaking loudly with the movement. "Yes!" he cried. "You're stealing people from their villages, separating families, only to force their fathers, sons and brothers to work long hours in inhumane conditions! What did these people ever do to you? What did they do to Valua to deserve this?"

"They're dogs, Ramirez. Savages. More animal than human." Mendosa scoffed. "And what do civilized people do with animals? They tame them and put them to work."

Ramir swallowed thickly, feeling hot tears sting his eyes. "My lord...you promised me...You said you would speak to Her Majesty in regards to all this..."

Mendosa only laughed. "You truly are naïve. And what do you think would have happened if I'd actually gone and done that? Her Majesty would find out about my little scheme, and I basically would be signing my own death warrant. I think not."

"How...how could you lie to me so blatantly like that?" Ramir's voice was barely above a whisper. "Have I no meaning to you? No respect? Are all outsiders like the Ixa'Takans to you people?"

Mendosa bowed his head solemnly. "It's quite unfortunate that things had to turn out this way, Ramirez. And to think I considered you a son! Nevertheless, you uncovering my plans has left me with no choice." He nodded to the guards behind him, who slowly drew their blades. "Seize him."

"Everything...All that I ever believed in..." Ramir felt like his insides were shriveling away. "My new family...this new world...You..."

As the guards closed in on him, he suddenly gave a furious cry and wrenched his sword free from its sheath. He felt the blade connect to his body and it gave a subtle vibration that only he could acknowledge in turn, linking him to the Silver Moon and the Moon likewise to him. It was this energy that he pulled upon by second nature, channeling it through the blade in a gleam of brilliant light. He turned upon his assailants and felled three of them in one stroke, immediately whirling around to catch those coming from behind him with an explosion of Red Magic. They screamed as their armor melted and their flesh burned away in seconds, the flames leaping behind them to engulf the nearest curtains and tapestries.

A few more guards arrived. He ran two of them through the stomach and cut clean through the third, his blade positively singing as it splattered lines of blood against the far wall. The glint of metal came out of the corner of his eye, and he nimbly ducked away as Mendosa swung at him, dancing behind the slower man with ease. Flicking his sword out, he pressed the blade into the Admiral's neck and caused him to freeze, the flames from the steadily-growing inferno licking at the heels of his boots. Sweat glistened atop Mendosa's head in the flickering light, and he dropped his sword, lifting his hands submissively. When their eyes met, the older man looked ready to panic.

"Wh-who are you? What are you?" Mendosa whispered.

"More than you ever will be," Ramir hissed in response. "Where I come from we are taught that all things in life come full-circle; you take from me, and now, I take from you."

"W-wait, no! I can give you riches. Power! You can be my vice captain and--" Mendosa began, but drifted off when he saw the belligerent look Ramir gave him.

"Power? You know nothing of true power."

Before Mendosa could reply, the Silvite drove his sword through his throat, watching solemnly as the admiral slid from the blade and crumpled to the ground with a gurgle. Suddenly he was aware of another presence in the doorway, and he turned his head just enough to regard the pale figure standing rigid there.

"What...what have you done?" Doc whispered.

"...Forgive me, Doctor." Bowing his head, Ramir sheathed his sword, staring down at the flames creeping closer to the body of Mendosa. "But I can no longer trust you people. I can no longer remain here." He turned then and pushed past his best friend, striding purposefully down the hall. Behind him, the fire ignited on something and suddenly burst to new life, engulfing the entire room.

"Wait! Ramirez!" Doc called, running after him. "Where are you going?"

"Goodbye, Doctor. The Ramirez that you knew is no more. He died the moment I drew my blade against Admiral Mendosa." Ramir tore the medal from his chestpiece and threw it back at him, vanishing into the darkened corridor. "From now on, I shall only believe in strength. I shall only follow those with power."

"Wait...Ramirez, don't do this! Ramirez, stop! _Ramirez!!_"

* * *

"...and so, the Ramirez I knew -- the innocent young man, Ramir -- died. I believe you know the rest of the story." Doc folded his arms and bowed his head, looking ashamed. "I had spent so much time with both Mendosa and Ramirez, but I could do nothing to stop this tragedy from happening. If I'd only had the strength to stop him back then, all of our lives would have turned out so differently. Even Maria's."

"Doc..." Vyse began.

Doc shook his head. "I know, I know. I'm going to stop living in the past, don't worry. Just gotta...keep looking forward and hope for the best. It's a miracle in itself that I was able to save Maria from the burning wreckage of the _Aquila_. My only regret is that I couldn't save her older sister Piastol as well."

Aika made a choking noise. Vyse stared at the man as if seeing him for the first time.

"The _Aquila_? Are you serious?"

Doc blinked. "Don't tell me you know the ship."

"...My parents died on that ship," Aika replied, quietly. "We were all in the area when we saw it burst into flames. Vyse's dad decided to board and sent us all out to rescue who we could, but the fire was so bad...they were crushed when the cabin collapsed..."

"Some of the soldiers attacked us, thinking we were the ones who had started the fire." Vyse shook his head, absently brushing his scar. "I'll never forget that night. It was one of the worst nights of my life."

Doc looked pale, haunted. "And all of us are connected by it. That's...no mere coincidence, it can't be. I-I never believed in fate until now..."

The next day passed solemnly for Vyse, Aika, and Fina. The ship was silent as they studied the herd of rabbats, trying to discern where they had come from to begin with. As it passed, some of them spooked and began to hop off in the same direction, and it was these Vyse followed as he carefully navigated the craggy underbelly of Valua. The chase went on for almost half an hour until something suddenly loomed up out of the darkness and swallowed both the frightened rabbats and the powerful, searching beams of the _Delphinus_' spotlights. It took a moment for him to realize that they were sailing straight into the gaping maw of a large, impossibly dark cave.

"Hey...hey, guys, I think we found it," he called.

Fina and Enrique jogged to the window and peered outside.

"Well, that may not be _the_ cavern, but they're supposed to all be connected," the prince confirmed.

"It looks more than big enough for us to sail through, too. We might not even have to leave the ship." Fina gave a small smile.

"Alright, well...here we go." Vyse straightened out the ship and carefully guided it into the mouth of the cave. "Aika, have the crew keep half an eye on the guns. Who knows what we're gonna find in here..."

"My guess is really really big rabbits," she replied, making him groan.

The first thing to greet them as they slipped into the cave was utter darkness. Vyse called for the spotlights to be focused and they cut a strip of yellow through the void, illuminating the faint outlines of jagged walls and long, knifelike stalactites dangling from the ceiling. He could see the forms of hundreds of rabbats shifting along the cavern floor a good fifty feet below them, appearing to multiply right before his very eyes. Vyse got the feeling that probably wasn't too far from the truth.

The cave's birth had obviously been violent. Everything was roughly hewn, and the cavern was jagged and uneven, zig-zagging in abrupt directions. Strange, stringy mosses and lichens dangled from the ceiling, and the walls were split by dimly-glowing veins of shifting yellow moonstone. Vyse had to slow the ship down considerably to ensure it didn't slam into something suddenly emerging from the darkness, as the walls of the cave tended to do. Occasionally they passed tunnels branching off in other directions, but it wasn't until they found one with a faint glow bleeding out of it that Vyse stopped and considered.

"Hey, Fina. What do you think that is?"

"I-I have no idea," the Silvite replied, blinking. "It could be lava, it could be the Gigas...it could be anything."

"I don't see how light could be a bad thing," Aika said. "There's cities down here, right? What if there's people still down here too?"

Fina giggled a little. "That would be very strange. But not impossible either, I suppose. Unfortunately, the language of the Yellow Civilization is a dead language; it's only distantly similar to Valuan. If there really are people down there, we would have difficulty communicating with them."

"We'll see when we get there, I guess," Vyse said, and turned the _Delphinus_ so that it glided down the mysterious tunnel.

The tunnel was long, and gradually snaked its way upwards. At rare intervals they would see enormous chunks of yellow moonstone crystal jutting out from the limestone surrounding them, and they provided a welcome luminescence in the otherwise dreary cave. Dozens of small shapes skittered in the shadows cast by the giant stones, but it was still too dark to determine what they were. The further they pressed on, however, the more frequent the moonstones became, until the search lights atop the _Delphinus_ were no longer necessary. Up ahead the light at the end of the tunnel became even brighter, and they watched, with wide eyes, as they emerged into a colossal cavern.

They had sailed into an enormous geode. Everything – the ceiling, the walls, the floor – was pure quartz crystal, sparkling in the light of a huge yellow moonstone formation embedded in the center of the room. Much of the cavern was bejeweled in hues of gold and amber, but mingling among them were crystal bursts of pale green, brilliant red and soothing purple. Many of the crystal formations were larger than the ship, and they reflected it at a hundred different angles as they sailed past. The four of them stared out the window in awe at their discovery, the warm light dancing across their faces.

"The Crystal Hall...I remember hearing about this, long ago." Fina smiled, looking a little breathless. "It was one of the wonders of the ancient world. But the pictures pale in comparison to this..."

"Look at the size of those crystals! Could you imagine what they're worth?" There were almost literally stars in Aika's eyes. "Does Valua even know this is down here?"

"Not a clue." Enrique blinked. "Nothing like this has ever been discovered in the history of the Valuan Empire. This is incredible!"

Aika grinned. "I guess Valua can be pretty after all."

"There's a couple tunnels through the rock, I think." Vyse peered out the window, squinting through the light. "I see two others. Where should we go?"

"Where's the compass pointing?" Fina asked. "The Maw of Tartas is roughly in the center of the Valuan continent. That puts it almost due west from Crescent Isle."

"We're facing south right now. So I guess we want the rightmost tunnel."

"You sure you wanna leave right now?" Aika gazed longingly at the crystals, heaving a wistful sigh. "Can't we just take a little souvenir? Just a little bit?"

Vyse rolled his eyes. "I swear, Aika, you and your 'just a little bit'. It would take us half of forever to cut even a tiny chunk off of one of these stones. We'll return after we find the Yellow Crystal, okay?"

"You can be so boring sometimes." Aika winked nevertheless. "Alright. Let's keep moving then."

Though they eventually left the Crystal Hall far behind, they occasionally came across large quartz deposits the rest of the day, welcome spots of color in the dark and dreary caves. The tunnels had no end in sight, however, and they were forced to spend the night (or what they guessed was night) within their rocky confines, rising late the next morning with no sun to stir them.

Eventually everyone lost track of the time and date, sleeping when they were tired and working when they were not. Vyse began to fear he would forget what the sun looked like as the days passed, and he was growing tired of the stale, warm air that permeated each of the tunnels they sailed through. Nevertheless, the Maw provided them with countless wonders to behold, from new and interesting rock formations to the bizarre subterranean creatures clinging to them. Eventually they began to see carvings embossed into the stone of the walls, and turned the lights on them to reveal the distinctive knotlike artwork of the Yellow Civilization. Fina noted that they were marking the tunnels, acting as directions, but they had been worn away by dripping water and she could not read them. Trying to guess what the markers were pointing to and following them became a new game for Vyse, who could only garner clues from the few pictographs left undamaged.

"We can't be too far off now." Fina smiled. "A few more hours, and we should start seeing houses."

Several hours later, they began to find markings that weren't completely destroyed, and Fina used his goggles to try and read them. Eventually she was able to trace a path that led them to a solid steel gate, decorated in golden knots and guarded on either side by humanoid figures carved out of the cave walls. It was enough to span the entire tunnel and looked eerily similar to the Grand Fortress gate in terms of shape and size, but it looked like it had never been completed. One of the statues was missing its head and a leg, and the side of the gate that it held on to had long slipped out of its grasp. Now it lay cracked open just enough for the _Delphinus_ to slip through, and he thanked the moons that their luck was holding out.

On the other side of the gate was a tunnel braced with yellow moonstone alloy that gleamed a coppery gold in the wake of the ship's search lights. It covered half a mile before finally opening up above the largest cavern they had yet to find, and it was there, below them, that the city they had been searching for rested, still illuminated by a million twinkling yellow lights.

It was nothing like the modern Valua; Vyse couldn't even imagine the people of Madera building something like that which he beheld. The entire city was nestled into what he supposed could be called a canyon, carved directly from the stone walls and scaling them hundreds of feet up until they rose vertically. Each structure almost looked like a temple, supported by massive columns and crowned with either powerful sloping roofs or magnificent arching domes. They were smooth and flawless, decorated in beautiful carvings, and were guarded at odd intervals by enormous dragon statues laced with pale green circuit lines. He couldn't tell if they were decorative or if they were truly golems, but each statue looked different and each sat in a uniform pose, eyes affixed on the city below. A network of arched bridges criss-crossed its way back and forth between the two sides and different layers of the city, and from them were hung decorative glass orbs and lanterns that sparkled in the lights still burning from each house. Above it all, hanging from the cavern ceiling by chains larger than the _Delphinus_, were enormous polished spheres made from quartz crystal no doubt taken from the Crystal Hall. He couldn't even begin to speculate their purpose.

"Incredible. The Old World never ceases to amaze me," Enrique breathed. "To think Valua's ancestors built this..."

"Look at all the lights! I've never seen so many before!" Aika said. "Does this mean there really are people here?"

Fina shook her head. "No...I see no movement down below. Someone would have noticed us by now."

"Why would the houses still have lights, then?" Vyse asked, blinking. "Even moonstones don't glow that long."

"Just like Valua, the Yellow Civilization powered itself almost completely on electricity," Fina explained. "They preferred subterranean cities because rock is a natural insulator; they could wield electricity almost with impunity, and it would never go out of control. Down here they also had access to metals, which they could use to channel electricity with. So really, they had an unlimited supply of power. Whatever is generating the electricity likely has enough energy to last for another thousand years."

"That's a _lot_ of power." Aika gazed down at the city wide-eyed." And to think it's just buried here. I can't believe anyone would willingly leave so much work behind."

"If we go exploring, will those statues attack us?" Vyse asked, nodding to one of the stone dragons in the distance.

"Those golems should have been de-activated, so I don't think so." Fina clasped her hands over her chest. "Just be careful."

Vyse pursed his lips and carefully brought the _Delphinus_ down into the canyon, eying the statues as they descended. They did not move an inch as the ship began to push forward, though, as cold and still as the stone they had been hewn from. With that concern immediately gone from his mind, the rogue began to focus on the city instead, gazing at the buildings they flew past and the island-sized spheres suspended high above their heads.

The city was not as perfectly preserved as Glacia had been. Some parts had crumbled with time, and others had been worn away by water flows that had long since dried up. For the most part, however, he found it to be largely in the shape it had been left in, and in some places curtains still hung in the windows and doorways, flowing gently in the wake of the passing ship. The entire city seemed to drop into infinity below them, and he had to resist the urge to follow it down to see just how deep it went. A few glowing white orbs peered up at him from below, there and then gone again, and he had to wonder if he had even seen them at all.

"What was the name of this city?" he asked Fina.

"It had many different names, but it was most often referred to as Terga Daré," the Silvite replied. "It was home to the _templum draconis_, or the dragon temple. I believe that's where Yeligar is housed, so it should be directly under the seal."

"What were these people like?" Enrique asked, after a thoughtful silence. "Were they like...us? Like modern Valuans?"

"You mean...warlike?" Fina asked, a touch quietly.

"Well...yes."

Fina smiled at the prince. "On the contrary. The people of the Yellow Civilization were very peaceful and introverted. They joined in late in the ancient war only because they could no longer hide from the other kingdoms' Gigas and had a need to create one of their own."

"I wonder what they would think, then...of Madera...of the Armada..." Enrique frowned, gazing out over the city with a sort of sad admiration. "I wonder if we could still learn from these people."

Fina looked like she didn't know what to say in response to that, so she simply remained quiet, bowing her head slightly as she gazed out the window. Vyse frowned, but wasn't exactly sure what was sparking Enrique's sudden guilt.

_And I'd never really understand,_ he thought, watching the white lights flicker and glide mesmerizingly in the canyon below the ship. _I don't really belong to any one country. I don't know the sense of pride and belonging that comes with it._

The closest thing he had to a country was Meridia, which wasn't even really a country to begin with. They didn't have ancestors, or a great ancient civilization to model themselves after. What, then, was he duty bound to? The Blue Rogues? The Silvites? It was a strange concept he had never considered before.

Vyse was dragged out of his musings as he noticed the lights below him were becoming far more numerous. They floated about in pairs, he realized, and were actually following the ship. A knot began to tie itself in the rogue's stomach as he came to the conclusion that the lights were not lights, but eyes. They_ had_ been noticed, after all.

"...Hell."

"What's wrong?" Aika asked.

"I think there's golems below us or something. They're following the ship."

The three of them leaned out the window, gazing into the depths of the canyon below.

"That...that shouldn't be..." Fina stammered. "None of them should be receiving power anymore."

"There's at least eight of them. And they're getting closer. I can see them moving." Enrique blinked.

Vyse joined them at the window, and together they watched warily as dark shapes slithered around beneath them. Abruptly, five long creatures lurched up from the darkness with lightning speed and lunged at the ship, recoiling with startled bellows as they bounced harmlessly off the armored hull. As they reared back for another strike, Vyse was able to get a good look at them, and his eyes widened in shock.

The ship was being attacked by large serpents. They were pale creatures, either barely blue or a cloudy white – he couldn't tell – with bodies plated in heavy, segmented scales and tails ending in a graceful fan. Their heads were crowned with long, elegant looking horns, one of which ran down their reptilian muzzles and reminded him very much of the shape of the _Delphinus'_ bow. They hissed irritably at the ship and tried to bite at it, but each time the hull deflected their serrated teeth with ease.

"Dragons!" Enrique cried, pressing himself up against the window.

Vyse blinked, eying the creatures as they turned to glare up into the bridge. "Those don't look very much like the other one we saw."

"This type of dragon is called the Tartas. It's where the Maw of Tartas got its name." Fina replied. "They're different from the Anguila dragons we saw, but still related."

"They don't look very happy to see us." Aika winced as they began to coil around the ship, as if to constrict it. The _Delphinus_ buckled slightly and then dropped a bit under their combined weight.

"They must have a nest at the bottom of the canyon," Fina said, with sudden realization. "It makes sense. The Tartas were sacred to the Yellow Civilization, so they must have built this city around their dwellings. I knew they made a pact with the dragons to live among them, but I didn't expect this."

"If any more show up, they might drag us to the bottom." Vyse grimaced. "We've got to get them off the ship."

The four of them jumped as a glowing eye suddenly filled up the window, accompanied by a low rumble. The largest of the Tartas had presumably heard their talking and crawled up to investigate them, but a moment later it jerked back as if surprised. It tried to bring its muzzle closer to them but the horn got in the way and cracked against the window sharply. Vyse winced, half expecting it to break.

The large Tartas turned and growled at its companions, who reluctantly unwound themselves from the ship. Three of them slithered back down into the depths of the canyon, flicking their tails as they went.

"Did it see us?" Aika asked, looking uncertain.

"I think so, but that seems to have worked in our favor." Fina blinked. "Is it possible that these dragons are as old as this city? Could they still remember humans?"

Enrique considered. "There are countless old folktales telling about dragons in Valua. Some claim that dragons and humans once lived side-by-side, and worked together to build Valua. Others claim that a giant dragon watches over the land, and that should Valua ever be attacked, it will awaken and destroy her enemies. I think it's very possible that they still remember the pact they made with the Yellow Civilization long ago."

The remaining two Tartas communicated between each other using a series of low rumbles, growls, hisses, and flicks of the tail. Eventually they, too, unwound themselves from the ship and instead took up positions swimming on either side of it, gazing up into the bridge expectantly. Vyse blinked and stared down at them, pressing his hands against the cool glass.

"What do they want with us?"

"It looks like they're waiting on us. I think they want to follow." Aika blinked. "I dunno about you, Vyse, but I'm not about to keep them waiting."

"Me neither." Without hesitation, the rogue returned to the helm and carefully set the _Delphinus_ into motion again. Sure enough, the Tartas followed right alongside it, matching its speed with ease.

Navigating Terga Daré wasn't difficult so much as it was hazardous. Weaving the _Delphinus_ between the bridges was a considerably difficult task, and more than once Vyse scraped the top or the wings of the ship against something, earning low growls from the Tartas swimming beside it. He got the feeling that ships were not meant to sail through the city, or of they were, they had been much smaller than the _Delphinus_ was. Nevertheless, the rogue was glad that there was nothing for him to get lost in this time, no confusing tunnels or roads that wound around and around themselves. The only thing limiting his vision was the darkness, which in part was taken care of by the glow the city emitted.

Eventually another large gate emerged from the dim light, nearly as tall and skinny as the skyscrapers in Glacia. It was decorated in the most elaborate artwork he had yet to see from the Yellow Civilization, depicting a winged dragon clutching a cube in its claws. On either side of the gate were two platforms upon which quartz pillars rested. They looked to have been worn away slightly by something scratching or rubbing against them, and even now powder from the forced erosion rested at their bases.

"This is it. This is the temple," Fina said, sizing the massive gate up and down. "It's sealed tightly shut, so Yeligar is definitely inside."

"That's great and all, but how do we get in?" Aika asked.

"That, uhm...I'm not sure about," the Silvite admitted, blushing. "We may have to search the city for a way to open it, but I'm positive it's not impenetrable like the seal above is."

"I don't know. It looks kind of thick for the _Delphinus_ to blast through," Vyse said, blinking as the Tartas suddenly perked, pulled away from the ship, and began to swim towards the door. "Hey! Where are they going?"

The four watched, dumbfounded, as the two Tartas parted from each other and made their way for a separate pillar. With an audible scraping of scales that ground a thin layer of powder from the surface, the two dragons wound their way around the crystals and rested their chins on top, humming rhythmically to themselves as they did so. Suddenly the pillars began to glow, their energy seeping into a series of circuit lines that led to and blossomed across the door. With a loud, low click, it shuddered and then began to slowly swing open, just enough for the _Delphinus_ to slip through.

"So _that's_ why they followed us." A look of enlightenment suddenly crossed Enrique's features. "I bet only the Tartas can open this door."

"They knew, then. They _did_ remember the pact." Fina looked amazed.

Slowly, Vyse pulled the ship through the opened gates, feeling the gaze of the two dragons on him the entire time. Though they did not follow the _Delphinus_ through, they did uncoil from the pillars to watch it, their faces and eyes unreadable. He wasn't sure if they approved of them entering the temple or not, and it gave him a strange feeling of unease. Did they not _want_ to follow him for some reason?

Though the entrance tunnel to the temple was pitch black, they soon emerged into a brightly lit chamber of copper that stretched so high above them that he couldn't see an end to it. The light did not reach to the ceiling, leaving blackness high above and giving the shaft the appearance of continuing on up forever. The entire room was perfectly circular in shape and big enough to fit half of Nasrad in, and just hovering in it made even the _Delphinus_ feel very small.

Multiple tiers marked by large knotwork borders rose up above them, and on them rested several roughly-carved tunnels that he realized must have been Tartas dens. Below them on the floor of the cavern sat a large circle of ship-sized stones identical to the one outside the Maw, and above it hovered a large metallic orb and several smaller, differently-sized moonstone spheres, one for each of the moons. The entire thing rotated slowly above the stones, casting differently-colored beams of light around the room, and he realized that the model must have represented Arcadia. That alone was enough to make him stare.

"So many empty dens. How sad..." Fina said, at last breaking the silence.

"What happened to all the dragons?" Aika asked.

"The people of the Yellow Civilization rarely used ships. Instead the Tartas took them wherever they needed to go," Fina replied. "When the war broke out, their warriors rode the Tartas into battle...and many of them perished."

"I don't think riding a living creature into naval battle is a very good idea..." Aika frowned.

Fina frowned as well, gazing up into the darkness high above. "Back then, living creatures were often enhanced with magic, making them more powerful than any ship could ever hope to be. Just look at the Gigas."

Aika nodded slowly. "True..."

"Speaking of which, where_ is_ the Gigas?" Vyse asked, gazing around. "Don't tell me he's in one of these tunnels."

"Actually, my guess is he's above us." Enrique pointed towards the darkness overhead. "There's obviously a lot to this chamber, so let's keep looking."

Vyse considered, then nodded and set the ship to levitate directly upwards. The grinding of the propellers died down as the hover engine took over and gently hefted the _Delphinus_ skywards, slowly lifting them past row after row of Tartas dens. As the minutes passed and the ground vanished beneath them, Vyse realized that the dragon chamber must have led all the way back to the surface. Warily, the rogue kept half an eye above them at all times, half expecting to hit the lid the Silvites had placed over the entire temple.

At long last, almost an hour later, a large shape emerged from the darkness, outlined in a brilliant yellow glow. Vyse slowed the ascent of the ship and it came to rest before the nose of a giant Tartas curled upon a smooth ledge, its slow, steady breaths fogging up the windows. As he swung the ship around to get a better look, Vyse realized that it wasn't actually a Tartas they had found, but some variation of the breed; though its head and armor-like scales were the same, this dragon had legs and enormous, bat-like wings, which currently were splayed around it haphazardly like some sort of leathery blanket. Unlike its serpentine brethren, it had scales of brilliant gold, between which had been carved distinctive bronze circuit lines. Though it was in a deep, peaceful slumber, it clutched something bright and glowing in one claw, its light seeping out between the fingers.

_Yeligar,_ Vyse realized. It was the closest he had been to a Gigas since Rhaknam had died.

"Whoa. How did we not wake him up?" Aika asked, eyes wide.

"It's a magic-induced slumber," Fina replied, staring at the glow in Yeligar's hand. "He cannot hear, or smell, or feel anything."

"A winged Tartas! Incredible! This must be what the Armada modeled their crest after." Enrique gazed out at the Gigas in awe.

Vyse rubbed the back of his neck. "Uhm...not to state the obvious here, but Yeligar's holding on to the crystal. How are we supposed to take that from him without him waking up?"

"Very, very carefully." Had anyone other than Fina replied with such, Vyse would have thought they were being facetious. "It's a Silvite spell keeping him asleep, so I can probably maintain the spell long enough for the three of you to remove the crystal from him. Once we have the crystal, we'll be out of danger."

"Nobody's controlling him currently. Does that mean he has a free will, like Rhaknam did?" Enrique asked.

Fina nodded. "He does. But that also means he has a different personality."

"Well, no sense in wasting time," Vyse said. "We only get one shot...either we nab the crystal, or we're fried to a crisp. Better make the most of it." And so said he left the bridge and headed down the stairs, not waiting for the others to follow him.

Outside, the entire deck was illuminated by the crystal's glow, which reflected off the Silvite seal mere feet above Yeligar's head. The ancient dragon shifted slightly and rolled to the side, sending centuries of dust tumbling off the edge of his ledge and down into the cavern below. He was smaller than the other Gigas, Vyse realized – actually, he was not much larger than the _Delphinus_ itself was.

"This spell is very potent. It took nearly twenty mages to cast it initially," Fina said as she emerged from the ship, clasping her hands over her chest. "I'll only be able to channel it for a few minutes, so please be fast..."

Vyse wasn't about to ask what would happen to her if they weren't fast enough. He simply nodded in response.

"I'm gonna cast Increm on the three of us," Aika said. "It's probably going to take all of us to pry his fingers back." She paused, eyes flicking up to the Gigas, and half-grinned, half-grimaced. "I've picked plenty of pockets before, but this really is something else..."

Vyse nodded again, turning and climbing over the railing and hopping down onto Yeligar's ledge with Aika and Enrique. As Aika cast Increm on the three of them, Fina busied herself by sketching an arcane circle on the deck with a piece of chalk she had grabbed from the bridge, murmuring to herself in a language Vyse didn't understand. When she was finished, she stepped back to consider her work, then nodded down at the three of them. Though she did her best to look confident, Vyse could see a gleam of unease in her eyes, and offered her the most reassuring smile he could muster. She smiled at him fondly in return.

"I'm going to start channeling now," she called. "When the circle at my feet begins to glow, get to work on pulling his fingers back!"

"Gotcha!" Aika shouted.

Fina drew back then from the edge of the deck, until Vyse could only see the top of her head. Cupil had appeared from out of nowhere, and began to spin around her lazily as she started to utter a fluid incantation he couldn't quite hear. The very air vibrated with magical energy, and as the thrum of it grew, Cupil began to circle Fina faster and faster. A faint purple-blue glow sprouted at her feet, at first a small beam of light and then a bright circle that he could see reflecting off the front of the cabin. Strange silver crescents began to materialize around the Gigas, wrapping around his body as if to bind him into place.

"C'mon! Let's hurry!" Aika said, climbing up Yeligar's forepaw. Vyse and Enrique followed, bracing their feet against the Gigas' rough skin. The dragon snorted and for a moment a fleeting image of the Silver Moon and a large tower beneath it flashed through their minds, there and gone so fast that it left them momentarily stunned. Yeligar was suspended between sleeping and wakefulness, and it made them scramble all the faster.

Nimbly, Vyse and Aika braced themselves against the base of one claw and began to push on the fingertip to try and force it away. Enrique joined them a few seconds later and the finger budged just enough to expose the Moon Crystal below them, a yellow cube of blinding light laying just out of their reach. The Gigas snorted and tried to curl his fist back up again, and the three of them cried out, struggling to force his hand back open. Abruptly, Aika let go and began to shimmy down between the gaps in his fingers, just barely slender enough to fit. Vyse grit his teeth and fought all the harder against Yeligar's grip, which swiftly was becoming stronger.

"Aika!" he called.

"Just a little more..." she said, straining as her fingertips brushed against the crystal. "Almost...got...it!"

With one final lurch, Aika snatched the crystal up in one hand, and as soon as she made contact it exploded in a burst of yellow light. Fina cried out and fell back on the deck, and immediately the Gigas jolted as he was shook awake, snapping his brilliant green eyes open. The dragon reared in surprise, dropping the three of them to the ledge and sending the crystal tumbling back out of Aika's hands. She froze, however, as the dragon's gaze turned on her, glaring at her with the most hatred Vyse had ever seen.

_Controllers!_ came a brazen tenor voice in their minds, loud and booming like a clap of thunder. _I will not be your puppet again! My will is my own!_

"Delphinus!" came Fina's voice from the ship, tiny and meek by comparison. "We do not seek to control you. All we wish is possession of the crystal."

The Gigas hissed, his tail lashing behind him and nearly clipping the bow of the ship which bore his name. _I am no simple animal, Silvite. I will not believe your lies! _As he caught Aika reaching for the crystal again, he roared and snatched it away from her, electricity sparking around him as his anger grew.

"Please, great Gigas! You must believe me!" Fina pleaded, leaning over the railing of the ship. "I was sent by my people to seal the crystals away so they might never be used for evil again! We will be sparing you the fate that the other Gigas suffered. You will be free!"

_Free?_ Yeligar's lip curled up in disgust, bearing a few pointed teeth. _What would a Silvite know of freedom?_

That question seemed to confuse Fina, and she had no answer for the dragon. He bristled at her silence, electricity crackling around his claws and jumping unnervingly close to the three of them. Knowing there was no way they could pry the crystal from the Gigas' claws now, Vyse slowly rose, trying to look as deliberate and unimposing as he could, and carefully led his friends back onto the ship.

"What would you have us do?" Fina asked at last, gazing up Yeligar boldly. "Allow us to gain your trust."

Yeligar narrowed his eyes to emerald slits. _Do you not realize what powers you are attempting to barter with, human? I am beyond you, beyond your people, beyond your scope of understanding. You seek to control and change everything as you see fit. I will not have it. I will not risk my freedom!_

"But--"

_My patience wanes, little creature..._

Fina closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Delphinus!" Vyse suddenly called up at the dragon, leaning over the railing. "Aoikaze and Plergoth are dead. Did you know that?"

The Gigas paused, staring down at him. Fina's eyes widened in horror.

The rogue continued, "Both died by mortal hands. We are not the only ones seeking to gain the Yellow Crystal. You will be hunted down like an animal if we do not resolve things peacefully, here and now."

Yeligar bellowed furiously in response to that, rearing back onto his hind legs with a powerful stroke of his massive wingsails. His entire body began to crackle with electricity, his eyes blazing in the dim cavern light. With a small cry, Fina grabbed Vyse by the sleeve and tugged him back inside the _Delphinus_, and Aika and Enrique quickly followed.

"Vyse!" Aika cried as they closed and sealed the door behind them. "What did you _do_?!"

"I-I don't know!" he replied, defensively. "I didn't think I said anything offensive."

"It's not what you said, but what you implied." Fina buried her face in her hands.

_YOU CANNOT HIDE, LITTLE INSECTS. I WILL DESTROY YOU._

A few people screamed below deck, startled by the Gigas' booming voice.

"Dammit!" Vyse grit his teeth, then turned and dashed up the stairs. "We have to get out of here before he opens up a storm on top of us."

When the four of them made it back up the the bridge, Vyse found his view consumed by the electricity wreathing Yeligar's body. The very presence of the charge made his skin tingle and his hair stand on end, and he could feel the _Delphinus_ vibrating underneath him. Forked tongues of lightning lashed out at the ship, puffing out in thin clouds of black smoke as their channeling was stopped by the insulation. The ship was beginning to glow orange with heat, however, and without hesitation Vyse threw the engines in reverse, dropping as fast as he safely could. They had just gotten beneath the ledge when Yeligar released his charge, the air literally bursting and flinging the ship backwards. Every window on board the _Delphinus_ shattered, and the ship trembled in the deafening, cacophonous thunderclap to follow.

Vyse's head reeled with the chaos that was raging on around him. Dragging himself back up to the helm, he squinted through the window only to find, to his horror, that the seal above them had fragmented and been blown away as the electricity vented itself upwards. It spiraled into the clouds and sparked numerous other tendrils of lightning that struck at the ground like springing vipers, fusing the soil into glass. As Vyse carefully lifted the ship out of the cavern, the heavens above split open and began to pour down a torrent of rain, making Valua's countryside as dark as the caverns below it were.

"Oh moons. Fifty feet of mithril gone in seconds..." Fina shook her head, looking desperate. "This...this is very bad..."

"We have no choice. We're gonna have to fight him." Vyse grit his teeth, clenching his fingers around the spokes of the wheel. "This is gonna be tough..."

"I'm more concerned about how vulnerable we are..." Aika glanced around, scanning the damage done to the ship. "Without the windows, can't the lightning get in here?"

Vyse did not reply, watching the dragon as it perched upon the stonehenge, panting with exertion.

"...He won't be able to do that for a little while, will he?"

"No, it takes a lot out of him," Fina replied.

"Good. Open fire!"

Yeligar lifted his head just as the deck of the _Delphinus_ lit up in bursts of flame. He sprang into the air with his powerful hind legs, but many shots still caught the lower half of his body and he screamed in outrage. Immediately he righted himself in midair and dove for the ship, and Vyse couldn't react in time in order to avoid the Gigas' obsidian claws. He swiftly swept the ship up and carried it off.

Vyse hissed between his teeth, trying to shake the _Delphinus_ free of Yeligar's claws, but the Gigas had a grip tight enough to bend the steel it was made of. Abruptly he let go and swung his massive tail around, catching it in the side and sending it careening out of control with a loud, metallic crunch. As the mountainside spun dangerously near, Vyse wrestled with the wheel and tried to steady the ship, oblivious to the crack and roar of thunder and the strobes of lightning around him. The world was a blur of brown and green and flashing white, dizzying enough to throw him off his feet. He pulled the nose up just in time to hear the hull of the ship scrape against the ground, and forced it away before it could smash into the soaked earth.

But Vyse couldn't even recover before heard Fina scream to duck down. The world as he knew it exploded in a torrent of light and heat, consuming all sight, all sound, and all feeling. The rogue was only distantly aware of a cocoon of multicolored light surrounding him as Aika feebly attempted to shield the four of them from the electricity crackling through the empty windowpanes. Whatever had happened, it made his body tingle painfully, to the point where he could not move, or think, or breathe.

None of them could recover before Yeligar made another pass at the ship, seeking to tear into it again. As his senses slowly returned to him, Vyse heard the explosion of gunfire, Nasrean curses and a furious roar, and thanked the moons that his crew had been spared from the attack.

The rogue forced himself to his feet, gaping when he saw the damage that had been wrought to the ship. The _Delphinus_ was _melting_, and many of the guns had wilted as though they were mere flowers standing in the Nasrean desert. Khazim and his men manned the few that remained, missing entirely but managing to force a distance between the Gigas and the _Delphinus_. As the rain splashed down on the heated metal, it hissed and cooled and forced the ship to warp, and Vyse knew that whatever armaments it had were now unsteady at best.

Yeligar suddenly flew up above the range of their guns, and the strange tingling feeling that had coursed through Vyse's veins before when the Gigas was charging up energy returned. He quickly scanned about for shelter, his eyes landing upon the fissure that they had hidden the _Little Jack _in when they were hunting Rhaknam so long ago. Boldly, he cut power to the engines long enough to send the ship dropping into the protective arms of the earth, narrowly avoiding Yeligar's silhouette shooting by above them. In his wake he dropped electric pulses that exploded on the ground overhead, creating brilliant and powerful shockwaves that Vyse knew would have capsized the ship.

The four of them watched as the large blip representing Yeligar on their radar continued to grow distant from the _Delphinus_. Vyse hastily climbed back out of the canyon, turning the ship only to find that Yeligar's momentum had sent him shooting off in the opposite direction, and he was only now slowing enough to turn. As soon as he did, Vyse pulled the lever for the moonstone cannon and delivered a blast of energy that threw the mighty dragon to the ground. Yeligar screamed and writhed, and the skies above responded with multiple cracks of thunder and lightning.

Vyse decided that he wasn't about to let the Gigas pick himself back up. He immediately sent the ship off at full speed, quickly closing the distance between the two of them as Yeligar slowly dragged himself to his feet. As they neared, however, the ship suddenly lurched to a stop, and was sent buckling backwards by a large electric spark. Yeligar lifted his head and gazed at them cruelly, his entire body glowing as he began to gather more energy.

"What's wrong? Why won't it move?" Vyse shouted. By now they – and the entire bridge – was soaked by the pouring rain blowing in through the windows, shivering with both the cold and the adrenaline coursing through their veins.

"He must have changed the charge of his electricity. He's using it to repel us," Enrique replied. "There's nothing we can do about it. He's forcing us into a range where he can hit us, but we can't hit him."

"The ship won't hold up much longer!" Fina cried. "He's charging up another big bolt of lightning. I don't think we can take another direct hit!"

Vyse grit his teeth. "We've got to lose him. We've got to force him to lower his defenses...!"

"Pull up! Pull up!" Aika called over the din outside. "He'll catch us this close to the ground. Hide in the clouds!"

Reluctantly, Vyse pulled away and sped the _Delphinus_off again, climbing as fast as he could into Upper Sky. The rain spilled blindingly into the ship, and the higher they climbed, the more bitterly cold it became. Vyse realized he would not be able to make it above the clouds simply because he would not be able to stand it. Already he was pushing things to the limits of physical exhaustion, and it was simply too much with the ship in its current state.

Vyse leveled the _Delphinus_ out once they were safely cloaked in the misty gray shroud blanketing Valua's skies. It was eerily quiet and almost calm where they were, the peace only broken by the occasional rumble of thunder or flash of lightning below. Yeligar had vanished off the radar, and the immense charge they were expecting to hear release down below never came. It was as if by climbing into the clouds, the world beneath them had ceased to be.

"Oh man..." Vyse panted, his breath coming out in puffs of vapor. "Fina's right. We can't keep this up. This guy's just overwhelming us."

"He's too dangerous while he's flying, but we can't get close enough to hit him, either." Aika ran her hands back through her hair, which had mostly pulled itself free of her braids and now hung wet and limply over her shoulders. "He counters everything we do. It's just not fair."

"There's not a single gap in his defenses either. He puts our admirals to shame." Enrique paced nervously, knowing as well as Vyse did that Yeligar was likely pursuing them through the clouds as they spoke. "We have to get him to drop his defenses long enough to knock him out of the sky...but how? He knows now just how much of a threat this ship poses to him after that hit with the moonstone cannon."

Silence fell over the four as they racked their brains, searching for an answer to the seemingly impossible question. They barely had time to act, let alone think.

Fina shook her head. "If we were still in the _Little Jack_, I think we would have been safer. All this metal makes us so vulnerable to him."

That sparked an idea suddenly in Vyse's mind, so mad that he was almost horrified with himself. "So let's eliminate the ship altogether," he blurted.

The three of them stared at him. "What are you on about?" Aika demanded.

"Look, I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out," he said, quickly. "Yeligar's going to keep that shield-thing up no matter what if we approach him with the _Delphinus_. But if we approach him outside of the ship, he's sure to drop his guard because we're so much weaker than he is."

"I don't understand." Fina furrowed her brow. "You want us to land the ship and try to fight him on foot?"

"No. I want to jump from the ship and take out his wings."

"WHAT!?" they cried.

"It's not that different from regular commandeering! It's just like jumping off one ship and onto another," he protested. "We've still got Drachma's fishing nets in the hull. We can jump from the ship and snare his wings up in the nets. I don't care how strong you are, if you don't die from a fall this high, you're sure to get broken pretty badly."

Aika put her hands on her hips. "That's great, but you're forgetting something: we'll go down with him! How do we keep _ourselves _from falling?"

The four of them flinched as a roar echoed through the clouds behind them. A few shouts came from the deck as the crew scrambled to locate the dragon.

"I don't know. Magic!" Vyse said, thinking as fast as he could. "Fina! Could you float us down with Blue Magic?"

The Silvite's eyes widened in shock, but after a moment she gave a meek nod in response.

"Okay. Then here's what we'll do," Vyse replied. "I'm going to act as bait and jump from the ship. I'm the one who pissed him off, so I'm sure he'll chase me. When he's on me, Aika and a few of our strongest guys will jump from the ship with the nets after him. Fina, how many do you think you could safely hold?"

"Maybe five total..." She shook her head uncertainly.

"Okay...so only two guys per net I guess." Vyse fidgeted as another roar came, closer this time. "Your target is the wings. Aika's team will get the left wing, and the other team will get the right. In the meantime, Fina will be heading for the ground in a lifeboat so she can catch us before Yeligar hits. Enrique, you take the _Delphinus_ once we're all off of it and sail it to shelter nearby."

"That's it?! Isn't there a backup plan?" Aika asked, desperately.

"There's no time to think of one!" he replied, already heading for the door. "We're dead if we just sit here, and we're dead if we continue on as we have been. We don't have much of a choice! We have to do something drastic."

"Vyse, this is _beyond _drastic!" she cried, but followed him anyway.

It was chaos below deck as they tried to make their way down to the hull, grabbing crewmembers as they went. Apparently some pipes had burst and other things had caught on fire, and it was all the crew could do to keep the ship from falling apart. Vyse could hear Maria and a few others crying in fear, but in his rush he couldn't identify who they were.

When he had gathered who he was looking for – Khazim, Lawrence, and Tika Tika – he met them down in the hold and quickly explained his plan to them. Of the three only Lawrence stared at him like he was a madman, which was better than he was expecting. When he finished, the three of them pulled their goggles over their eyes and Aika did the same, gazing at him expectantly.

Together, the five of them rolled the fishing nets out of storage. Aika and Tika Tika each took up one side of one net, and Khazim and Lawrence did the same of the other, the four of them positively radiating tension as Vyse cranked the hold door open and they stared at the thick clouds rushing past below.

"_Vyse, he's back on the radar,_" came Enrique's voice over the radio. "_He'll be on top of us here in no time! You have to go, now!_"

Too far away from the radio to give a response, Vyse furrowed his brow, drew in a deep breath, and peered over the edge of the ship.

"Moons," he murmured, "give me strength."

And then he jumped.

If Vyse's heart had been pounding before, it threatened to burst from his chest now; or it would have, if it hadn't joined his stomach up in his throat. Breathing became almost impossible as the high winds and cold air snatched his breath away, and he was forced to close the one eye that was not covered by a goggle, squinting through the layers upon layers of mist through which he plunged. It was almost like he was in a tunnel, falling down, and down, and down forever. He could not tell how far he was from the ground.

The rogue spread his arms and legs and spared a glance back over his shoulder, only to see the clouds part and Yeligar come diving through with an open maw. He roared furiously as he affixed his gaze onto Vyse, and Vyse hastened to streamline himself again, trying to fall as fast as he could. All of the sudden, in the face of a dozen razor teeth, his brilliant plan seemed like far less of a good idea.

With no way to communicate with his crewmembers, Vyse felt lost. He couldn't tell if Aika had seen him and if she had jumped yet. All he could see in any direction was a blur of gray – or, if he looked up, Yeligar's waiting maw.

The dragon was gaining on him fast, pumping his wings in order to match the rogue's fall. Vyse felt a wave of desperation wash over him, as he had no way of being able to speed himself up, but did his best not to let it show. He was not about to show Yeligar any weakness, nor was he going to allow himself to just let things happen. Instead he rolled over onto his back and watched as the dragon came for him, drawing and brandishing his swords.

And then Yeligar was upon him, close enough to snap the rogue up in his mouth. Vyse threw himself to the side and lashed out at the dragon's muzzle before he could attack, wincing as his swords bounced harmlessly from the Gigas' diamond-hard scales. They didn't leave so much as a scratch.

But before Yeligar could retaliate, a bright shape appeared in the sky. Aika and the others dropped from the clouds, propelled forth by Blue Magic that streamed behind them like ethereal wings. With a cry, the four of them descended upon the Gigas and dropped past his pinions, throwing the heavy fishing nets around them as they fell. The nets instantly did their job and tangled themselves around the dragon's wings like an enormous spiders' web, forcing them to fold and collapse at his sides. He roared furiously as they jerked him back, rolling away and vanishing in the clouds as he tried to dislodge them. But Aika and her party could not react to such a sudden move, and became entangled in their own nets. They struggled to hack and burn away the ropes that held them, managing to escape just as Yeligar disappeared. With a visible sigh of relief, Aika dispelled the magic from her companions and slowed their fall. Vyse didn't think his heart was ever going to stop pounding.

Abruptly the clouds parted and the dark outline of the land became visible below. Vyse found himself floating in a torrent of rain and blackness and grimaced as his soaked clothes began to cling to his skin. He felt like he was falling like a rock, and worst of all he couldn't tell just how fast he really was moving. All of the sudden he became overwhelmed with a sense of vertigo that sent him tumbling end over end until the others caught and righted him.

And then the ground appeared from out of nowhere, covered in a glassy sheen left by the rain. Vyse noticed a strip of silver and a spot of white below them, illuminated by a bright blue glow. The speed with which all of it drew near almost made him sick with anxiety. They were mere seconds from becoming bloody smears on the Valuan continent.

Before they could hit, tendrils of Blue Magic coiled up from the ground and again wrapped around them. This time it was as if an unseen hand was lifting up from below to catch their fall; the wind blowing up from under them became stunningly powerful, until they hung suspended like puppets in midair. Slowly, the current fell away until it lowered them safely into the lifeboat in which Fina stood. The Silvite immediately collapsed to her knees when she was certain they were safe and sound, having expended far too much magical energy for one day.

"...Did we get him?" Vyse asked when his voice returned to him at last.

"I didn't see him hit the ground. Did you?" Aika asked.

Fina weakly shook her head.

Silence reigned as the six turned their gaze up to the sky. The storm calmed and the rain faded away, but there was no sign of Yeligar.

"He might have fallen pretty far from here. I'm not sure where he went when he turned off." Vyse rubbed at his face, trying to force some feeling back into it. "Either way, we'd better head back for the _Delphinus_."

Something dropped from the sky and landed beside them with a loud thud, followed shortly by its twin. They turned, only to find the remains of the two fishing nets lying on the ground beside them, smoldering and frayed. Without hesitation, Vyse lunged for the wheel and sent the lifeboat speeding off, pushing it as fast as it could go. He had barely gotten moving when Yeligar dropped out of the clouds behind them, catching himself in his fall and churning up thick clouds of dust as he skimmed over the ground.

"You're gonna try to outrun a Gigas in a lifeboat!?" Aika cried.

"We don't have a choice!" he replied, aiming for a cluster of lights in the distance that he knew must have been the _Delphinus_. "Argh! C'mon!"

The lifeboat was no match for Yeligar by any means. The Gigas loomed above them ominously like a black cloud, bearing down upon them with frightening speed. Vyse came to the grim realization that he wouldn't be able to reach the _Delphinus_ in time. But Enrique had evidently seen the dragon, as the _Delphinus_ began to move towards them as well. Vyse angled himself towards the underbelly of the ship and pressed on as fast as he could, following the contour of the land in the hopes that it would force the Gigas to slow down. Though the sudden drops and rocky protrusions did hinder him somewhat, Yeligar could not be shaken, continuing on with blazing speed. They wouldn't even be cutting it close; Yeligar would overtake them long before they reached safety.

Nor was the dragon stupid. Noticing the _Delphinus_ draw near, he began to gather energy to him again, storing up another massive charge with which to obliterate the ship. In response, the bow of the _Delphinus_ folded away and the moonstone cannon slid out, charging up its own deadly blast.

"This is nuts!" Khazim cried. "We'll get caught in that blast too!"

"If we do, then I'm sorry," Vyse murmured in response, watching as the flickering lights behind them grew more intense. Once again, his hair began to stand on end. Fingers of lightning snaked out and snapped at the ground around the tiny lifeboat, threatening to teeter it off balance. "I didn't mean for this to happen, even though I knew it was all or nothing from the start. Thank you for believing in me enough to follow me this far."

"Aw...hell..."

Vyse dropped the lifeboat as low as he dared, until it began to clip the ground and the sparse vegetation growing along it. Suddenly, the moonstone cannon flared up and fired, and Yeligar countered with his own electric blast, rending the air with thunder. The two forces skimmed over their heads in a blaze of heat and collided somewhere behind them, and all the sudden the world seemed to come to an end.

The resulting explosion decimated the land, ripping open a massive crater and sending hunks of earth flying everywhere. The shockwave knocked trees and boulders flat and sent the little lifecraft tumbling out of control, and they ducked inside as it began to spill end over end down the hillside, losing its rudders as it went. Vyse clung desperately to the sides of the boat, trying to keep himself from tumbling out, but ultimately he was flung from the craft and sent skipping over the ground, finally coming to a rest at the foot of a tree that had been splintered and charred in the storm. When Vyse lifted his head, all he could see was a lingering ball of light in the distance, slowly sinking into the crater it had formed.

"Dammit..." he murmured, before dropping his head in exhaustion.

Vyse spent the next half hour trying to move, but his body was too tired and too battered to respond. He had the feeling he had several broken bones, but his concern for the others consumed him to the point where he couldn't really feel the pain. It wasn't until he heard the distinctive – albeit weak -- churning of the _Delphinus_' engine that most of his fears finally abated, and he realized that Yeligar must have been dead. It assured the rogue less than it should have, and he momentarily wrestled with the fact that, had he kept his mouth shut, they could have avoided all this to begin with.

"Hey, guys! I found him!" came Doc's voice from behind the glare of a yellow moonstone lantern. "Looks like he's in one piece too. Thank the moons for that."

"Agreed," came Enrique's voice. "I'll radio up to Don, then. Let's pick him up and keep moving. We need to acquire the crystal and leave here before the Armada comes to investigate that explosion. The _Delphinus_ won't be able to face any more than a rowboat in her current state."

* * *

Hours later, Vyse found himself laying in bed, trying to recuperate. He tried to remember what had happened between the time Doc had found him and the present, but forming coherent thoughts was easier said than done, and he realized in his sluggish state that he must have been drugged. By now Vyse was so used to healing magic that medicine seemed odd and almost foreign to him. He only hoped that Doc wouldn't make him take more when he realized that Vyse was awake.

Just then there came a knocking at his door. Vyse tried to lift his head but it felt like cement and fell back to the pillow with a soft thud.

"C'min," he murmured.

The door clicked and cracked itself open slightly, allowing just enough room for Fina to shyly peek through. She barely looked better than he did, wrapped up tightly in her nightgown rather than her usual Silvite clothes.

"Hello, Vyse," she said, tiredly. "I-I wanted to see how you were feeling."

"Me? You're the one that collapsed from magical exhaustion," he replied, patting the side of the bed. "Here, come sit with me. You look ready to fall over."

Fina didn't argue that, shuffling over to him and sinking lightly onto the thick covers. "We got the Crystal," she said. "There was no sign of Yeligar. It seems to have consumed him when he died."

"Fina, I'm sorry...for saying what I did to him..."

She shook her head. "I know you were just doing what you thought was right. Honestly I didn't expect him to be so...grumpy...either. But I can understand why he felt what he felt. I can understand why he wanted to fight. In the end, it was probably unavoidable."

"Three dead and two alive." He shook his head, blearily. "Is this what your Elders wanted?"

"The purpose of my mission was to prevent a loss of life, period. So far nothing's gone as planned." She hesitated then, clasping her hands in her lap and staring down at them. "But now, with this crystal...my quest is complete. Now, I...I have to go home..."

"Fina..."

"Vyse...I don't want to go home..."


	31. Tempest

It was an unusually clear morning for Madera, one of those few rare days when the Yellow Moon's storm clouds had actually missed Valua's capital. The sun was only now beginning to rise, a faint pink strip on the eastern horizon, leaving the rest of the sky dark for the time being. The moon seemed to hang just above the city, full and bright and large enough to dominate the space of the window that Lord Galcian silently gazed out of. Ramirez paused in the doorway and frowned, wondering if now was the best time to interrupt the man; he always stared out that window when he was thinking, and as of late a lot had been on his mind.

"M'lord?"

"Ramirez." Galcian made no other acknowledgment of him.

Ramirez approached and bowed his head respectfully. "I have several bits of news, if m'lord is interested."

"Very well. What have you to report?"

"Investigation in the north has discovered that the lid to the Maw of Tartas has been blown clean off," he replied. "All the trees in the area have been knocked flat, and there's a large crater in the center of the valley. All we found were the remains of two fishing nets; no bodies."

"Do you think it's the pirates?"

"Almost certain, m'lord. I've shot them down around there once before."

"Do they have control of the Gigas?"

"That remains to be seen, but judging by the destruction in the area, I think it is safe to say that the two of them did not meet on amicable terms."

"Then one of them is dead, and it is of little consequence to us now. What of Dangral Island? What is the progress on the construction?" Galcian asked at last.

"The port and main base have been completed," Ramirez replied, his gaze momentarily flickering out to the Yellow Moon. "Currently the _Chameleon_ is being outfitted with reinforcements that will allow it to enter Deep Sky."

"DeLoco has found the target, then?"

"Yes, m'lord. He picked it up on the radar two weeks ago, but could get no closer due to the storm."

Galcian finally turned to that, something of a smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth. He wandered over to the heavy oak table behind him, littered with papers and maps and copies of DeLoco's blueprints, his steely eyes sweeping over them thoughtfully.

"...I don't like it."

"M'lord?"

"I'd prefer not to rely on the Admirals so much, especially since we don't know where they stand. I believe I will go to Dangral myself to oversee the final stages of construction. Tell them to meet me there."

Ramirez nodded. "Of course."

"In the meantime we have a few other options worth pursuing. I will weigh those out once I have a response from the Admirals." He paused then, and eyed Ramirez with a sort of wry amusement. "And what of you, Silvite? I walk the path of death and destruction. If you wish to change your mind, now is the time."

Ramirez only smiled. He knew the question was coming, and he also knew that Galcian knew the answer. Nevertheless, the Lord Admiral had to ask; it was a part of the unspoken agreement between the two men, born of a mutual respect. The two gave each other space, and neither relied upon the other for anything. It was a shared vision that unified the two, that drove them forward and formed what was almost a friendship – and over the years, it had only deepened Ramirez's loyalty towards the man who had showed him the true nature of the world.

"I chose long ago to walk the path that you walk, Lord Galcian. I shall forever be at your side, and I shall cut down anything that should block our path. It is my duty. It is my purpose."

"Then it is as good as done." Galcian smirked, turning back to stare up at the moon. "The tables will soon turn, Ramirez. Everything will be in our control and that foolish Empress will bow to _me_. The lands, the people...even those revered Moons! All will be in my grasp."

Ramirez bowed his head, feeling his smile grow. "You shall reign supreme, Lord Galcian."

* * *

Though sailing home was uneventful, it was nevertheless tense. With the state the _Delphinus_ was in, Vyse was forced to sail at a level where Armada ships could discover them with ease. He kept three lookouts on duty at all times, alerting him the moment they saw any ship in the area, and it wasn't until the Valuan coast vanished on the horizon that the ship sightings finally ceased. The eastern skies were all frontier lands, and as such very few people ventured as far as Crescent Isle.

In the meantime, Vyse had people make repairs where they could, mainly to the interior of the ship. He knew it would take half of forever to repair the guns and the hull, but at the same time was happy that it would ground them for at least a moon. It meant he would have that much more time with Fina before they would be forced to take her home, and he could use that time to try and figure out how they could get her to stay. It was likely going to take some sort of diplomatic negotiations with her elders, which he evidently was terrible at; he'd need to take a crash course in diplomacy from Enrique.

At last, the silhouette of Crescent Isle appeared on the horizon. By that time it was late in the afternoon, and the sun was already beginning to descend into the craggy Valuan mountains behind them. The ship was unnervingly quiet despite the repairs going on below deck, and the bridge was empty, leaving Vyse to the helm and to his thoughts. Suddenly he became aware of movement above him, and strained to listen as he heard a pair of feet making dull plinking sounds down the lookout tower. The door burst open and Aika hurried through carrying Domingo's golden spyglass, a look of concern on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, blinking.

"Vyse, we've spotted an unfamiliar ship anchored near Crescent Isle," she said. "It's got huge black sails and looks big enough to take out the entire village if it wanted to."

Dread suddenly poured over Vyse like ice cold water. Had he been wrong about the Angel of Death? He quickly jogged for the window and focused his goggle, trying to catch sight of the ship that Aika had spoken of. The blurry form took the shape of a slender, ornate vessel stained a rosewood color, its long pectoral fins as graceful as they were distinct. As Vyse caught sight of the flag it flew – a red-winged skull clutching a cigar in its mouth – he immediately relaxed and even had to laugh.

"Aika! It's the _Claudia_!"

"What?" She suddenly perked up. "No way!"

Vyse chuckled. "I'd know that ship anywhere. Looks like Gilder decided to pay us a visit."

Sure enough, when they pulled into the port two hours later, Vyse found Gilder waiting for them with Brabham on the dock. The old man wailed piteously upon seeing the state of the _Delphinus_, grabbing Vyse by the collar and shaking him roughly as soon as he disembarked.

"What have you done to my ship!?" he cried.

"Brabham, it's Enrique's ship--" he began.

"Ohhh, moons!" The elderly engineer threw his hands up in exasperation, storming around in circles. "Do you know how much steel plating it's going to take to fix the warped parts? We'll have to replace entire sections of the hull! It'll take weeks, I tell ye! Weeks!" And then he stomped off, shouting for Izmael.

"Heh." Gilder lit a cigarette and slipped it between his lips, eying the _Delphinus_ speculatively. "Looks like you've gotten yourselves into plenty of trouble while I've been gone. Glad to see you're putting my money to good use." He grinned.

Vyse smirked, slinging his thumbs through his beltloops. "I was wondering when you'd show up again. Did it take you this long to ditch Clara?"

"Hah! Nah." Gilder waved a hand dismissively. "I've been all over the place these last few moons...and so have you, it seems! I think we've got some catching up to do, kiddo. What say we talk over a nice hot meal and a pint of loqua?"

Aika grinned. "Pleasure before business..."

"Always." With a flourish, Gilder reached into his jacket and produced a single red rose, handing it to her with a charming grin. "Hedonism is an art, my dear." And with that, he turned and left.

Polly and Urala were on the verge of panic when they saw that Gilder's crew, thirty six men strong, had decided to join them for dinner. The wealthy captain offered up his own mess cook to help them with the outrageous demand, and though it took longer than they were accustomed to, the three of them managed to whip up a hearty meal that was a welcome relief to everyone after weeks out on the sea. Vyse, Aika, Fina, Gilder and Enrique enjoyed their food together up in the meeting room, talking and laughing over their meal and gazing out over the crowded island below.

"That's just...utterly amazing." Gilder shook his head in disbelief as they finished telling him of all that had happened since they had first parted ways. "Now I wish I had stuck with you guys. You really put me to shame." He grinned, pulling a long sip from his mug of loqua, then paused to consider the five moon crystals that they had placed out on the table when they first began their tale. "I guess this means you win, doesn't it? These little treasures are out of Valua's hands for good. That leaves only one question to be answered..." He lifted his gaze then, peering at Fina over his pierce-nez. "You never told me...Where are you taking these back to? Where exactly are you from?"

Fina dropped her gaze to that. After a moment, she slid from her chair and quietly walked over to the window, gazing out of it sadly.

"Fina?" Aika asked uncertainly.

"I've mentioned it a few times before, but I never really described it to any of you," the Silvite replied after a moment, her voice distant and quiet. "The place I must return to...the place where both Ramir and I were born and raised...is the Great Silver Shrine. It is a place high above the sky, where no ship, not even the _Delphinus_, can reach it."

"I remember you telling me a little bit about that..." Vyse said. "You called it 'outer space.'"

Fina gave a small nod. "Long ago, when the Rains of Destruction fell upon the lands and most of the world's population was killed, all seemed lost. The most powerful Silvite mages met at the shrine. They combined their energy and sacrificed their lives to send it into the sky...to send our remaining people to safety. We escaped the fate that fell upon the rest of the world by rising above the destruction. Ever since then, from above, we have sworn to protect this world from the same fate that our ancestors suffered. That is the primary mission of the remaining Silvites."

"But...how are you going to get home?" Enrique asked, frowning slightly. "If the _Delphinus_ cannot reach it, then what can?"

"If I still had the ship that I came in, then I could easily make it home. But when I was attacked by Valua, my ship sank beneath the clouds." Fina sighed. "It is a minor setback. If I contact the elders, they will send another ship for me..."

Aika's expression fell. "But if that happens, will we have to say goodbye? We'll never see you again..."

Fina fell silent for a while, clasping her hands over her chest. When next she spoke, she almost sounded guilty. "Lately, I sometimes find myself thinking...I started thinking, if something were to happen to my communicator...If I were unable to find a way home...then I would be able to stay here with everyone." She laughed a little. "But that is silly of me. I have my orders, and I must fulfill them. I must return to the Great Silver Shrine."

Vyse fell silent and stared down at the table, not wanting the others to see his expression or the turmoil he was feeling. He had to help Fina – he had promised to. But in the end, would he really be able to let her go?

"...You might wanna hold off on calling anyone just yet, Fina," Gilder replied at last, a sort of warily enlightened expression crossing his rugged face. "You may want to get your ship back."

She turned slightly, enough to look over her shoulder at him. "What do you mean?"

"While you four have been off sailing around the world, I've been spending my time tracking Valua," Gilder explained. "It's mostly been minor stuff...a little sabotage here, some raiding there, but when they started moving en masse into Mid Ocean, I began to get suspicious."

"Have they occupied Meridia?" Aika asked, startled.

"Not quite," he replied. "While I admit I don't feel safe returning to Cape Claudia anytime soon, most of the ships they brought in were construction rigs and supply barges. I decided to follow them around a bit, only to watch as they dropped into the clouds below me and vanished."

"They must have reverse-engineered a Yafutoman engine." Enrique frowned. "I knew it was only a matter of time..."

Gilder continued, "The thing is though, when the clouds below parted enough and I could see underneath me, I realized that they were building a base on Dangral Island. Do you know where that is?"

"Yeah, it's..." Vyse paused, and blinked. "...It's in the area we rescued Fina in."

Gilder arched a brow. "Is it? That confirms my suspicions even more then." He leaned back, folding his arms across his chest. "See, by then I was more than curious, so I snuck on board the next supply barge to come through and rode it into Lower Sky. When it landed on the island, I got off and lurked around the beginnings of their base, and that's when I heard from one of their soldiers that they were building a ship that could go into Deep Sky. Supposedly, beneath all the clouds, there is a 'bottom' of the world, immersed in total darkness. Nobody's seen what lies beneath all the clouds, and most agree that it's hell, because all sailors who fall overboard wind up down there sooner or later. But if Fina's ship sank within that area, then that is where it would be."

"And you think they're after her ship." Vyse stared at Gilder incredulously. "Valua's got some nerve if they think they can get up to the shrine and conquer the remaining Silvites!"

"I don't know what they're after. It could be as simple as them trying to tear the ship apart to see what makes it tick, as they apparently did with a Yafutoman vessel." Gilder shook his head. "Either way, the base is mostly done now and the Admirals have started to gather. Something big is going on, and they're trying to keep it under wraps."

"Ugh. Dammit. Of all the times for me to almost total the _Delphinus_..." Vyse ran his hands back through his hair.

"We can take the _Claudia_."

"The _Claudia_ can't get down there."

"I'm hurt, Vyse. You think I didn't steal anything while I was down there?" Gilder reached into his jacket, pulled out a rolled-up scroll and tossed it on the table in front of him. Vyse blinked and unrolled it, only to find blueprints for an engine identical to the _Delphinus_'. "I was going to give this to you so you could modify your ship as well. But it looks like you're several steps ahead of me."

Vyse laughed a little. "Gilder, you're amazing."

In response, Gilder only grinned. "I know."

* * *

That night, Vyse lay awake in bed staring up at the ceiling of his room, his mind still too full of thoughts to let him sleep. Gilder's information provided a momentary distraction from his initial dilemma, and indeed he was curious as to what the Armada was up to. They were going to extremely great lengths to get their hands upon Silvite technology, but after seeing the Old World almost firsthand, he supposed he couldn't have blamed them. The Ancients had created wonders to last successive lifetimes, and while very few of them ever seemed to be positive things, he still had to marvel at their accomplishments.

_They were all just like Valua. Six Valuas, under each of the moons,_ he thought. _What did they think they had to gain from that war? What does Valua think they have to gain? I just don't get it..._

Even after so much time, very few things made sense to him. He operated mostly on instinct, he realized, and nowadays that was starting to cause trouble.

Just then, a soft click against his door pulled him from his musings. He wouldn't have given it much thought, except that he knew the sound well from the years he had spent picking locks on doors and chests during raids. Resisting the urge to yell at the culprit, or to get up and chase them off, Vyse grabbed his cutlasses from where they rested at his bedside, hunkered down under the covers, and waited. It didn't matter if it was one of his crew or one of Gilder's; he was going to tear into them regardless for having so much nerve -- or defend himself if necessary.

Without so much as a creak from the hinges, the door was carefully swung open and a shadow slipped in just as silently, carrying a large scythe with it. Vyse did his best to look like he was asleep, watching the figure through half-lidded eyes. It was a woman, he realized, likely wearing form-fitting clothes, as he could see no folds or distinctive features on her. Three slender ponytails fell down to the small of her back, one on top of another, similar to the pictures of angels he had seen carried from Valuan churches in the past.

_Angels...?_

Vyse suddenly kicked off the covers and scrambled from his bed, his cutlasses ringing loudly as he pulled them from their sheathes. The woman instantly reacted and brought up her scythe to deflect his blows as he dove at her, sending him staggering back against the opposite wall with a powerful swing. She wasted no time in coming at him again, and he ducked away as she took another swing and the scythe embedded itself into the wall. The followup swing as she dislodged it broke his window, and as he tried to counter her she kicked him out of it with the heaviest pair of steel-toed boots he had ever had the misfortune of having planted in his stomach.

The two-story fall stunned Vyse as he hit the ground hard. Rolling onto his back, the rogue tried to catch his breath as he saw his assailant materialize in the window above and then swoop down like a vulture, poised once again to strike. He could feel shards of glass biting into his bared torso, arms and feet, but it was enough to force him to keep his wits about himself as the world itself seemed to slow. When she was upon him after what felt like hours, he rolled against his shoulders, brought up his legs and kicked her with enough force to send her stumbling back, buying just enough time to get back on his feet.

She was upon him again the second he was standing, and he crossed his cutlasses in front of himself to block the bloodthirsty blade of her scythe. He managed to catch the head up in his offhand and took a swing with his main, but she nimbly backflipped away to avoid his counterstrike. Gritting his teeth, he turned around and ran.

Vyse's heart was pounding, but he wasn't scared. What he _needed_ was better ground to fight on. Already the lights had flickered on in Enrique and Fina's rooms, and he wanted to keep the Angel far away from everyone he could. As he ran, he heard faint whistles behind him, and felt several small objects embed themselves into the ground at his bare feet.

_Great,_ he thought, _she's throwing knives._

He got to the tavern before she overtook him again, and leapt up onto a few empty kegs of loqua that Polly had put outside. He quickly hacked away at the ropes holding them into place and sent the entire pile rolling down towards the Angel, but she leapt each hurdle nimbly, as if she jumped barrels for a living. Vyse grit his teeth and rolled away as she sent a wave of Blue Magic at him, scrambling off again to try and put more space between them and leaving it to smash through the tavern wall. Was there anything this woman _couldn't_ do?!

Trying to ignore the knot that was beginning to form in his side, Vyse continued on down the road, his feet pounding against the ground. As he reached the elevator leading up to the meeting room, he climbed on to it and sent it up, leaping off just as it passed the roof of the overhang that protected it. She melted out of the shadows like a jungle cat and immediately sprang after him, using more Blue Magic to reach the roof just as he did.

Vyse tried to catch her off guard as she landed lightly upon the tiles, but she again caught his blades and easily cast them aside with a swing of her scythe. He dropped to the roof to dodge her countering blow, following up with a strike at her feet, but she agilely sprang over him and returned with a wicked swipe that grazed the side of his leg and knocked the cutlass out of his offhand. Acting fast, Vyse grabbed the shaft of the scythe and yanked it towards him, and while he was unable to pull it from her grip, she stumbled along with it.

The two opponents found themselves face-to-face, and Vyse was shocked at what he saw. This woman, this hardened bounty hunter who even Lawrence feared, was no older than he was. She wasn't anything like Aika or Fina; she was tall and agile, her body long and sinewy and covered in nicks and scars that her ghostly pale complexion did nothing to hide. One scar in particular stood out from the others, a long gash that ran down her left cheek just like his did. The Angel's features were hardened but refined, almost as noble as Enrique's. Her eyes were a stunning blue, but in them was an ancientness and bitterness akin to Drachma's that he had never seen in someone his age. A thick mop of bangs partially obscured her face, bleached a perfect white; the rest of her hair had been dyed blue, and he couldn't even begin to guess at the natural color.

But Vyse was nowhere near as shocked as she was. As their gazes met, her eyes widened and a look of both shock and utter disgust crossed her face. She reached out to trace his scar, then suddenly growled and slapped him, and he pushed her away, snatching his cutlass back up and dancing behind her as she charged at him. She redoubled her efforts, striking with such unrestrained fury that Vyse was forced backwards across the length of the overhang. Realizing he had given up what very little ground he had, he sprang backwards onto the roof of the closest house, and she followed.

As they landed together, she caught him with a bolt of Yellow Magic that made his heart jump painfully and sent him crumpling to his knees. He groaned and tried to force his body to move, but it was heavy and hesitant to respond. Instead, when she came for him, he rolled off the edge of the roof and caught himself on the edge with the hooked end of a cutlass; she overshot him and fell straight off.

Gasping for breath, Vyse struggled to swing himself back up and took a few seconds to recover before leaping to the next house. He made it three over before she suddenly dropped out of the sky and landed in front of him, bringing her scythe down with her. By now both of them were growing sluggish and fatigued by chasing each other around the island, but the mad instinct to survive drove them on.

Lights began to flicker on in more and more houses below. Vyse could hear voices in the distance but paid them no heed, striking continuously at the Angel as he tried to force her to drop her guard. She was remarkably skilled with her weapon, using the shaft of the scythe to block and parry his blows and the blade to return them, swinging it around herself like a dervish. The harder Vyse fought, the harder she pushed him back, forcing him to jump a few more roofs to try and put some distance between them. He realized only too late that he had done what she wanted him to, watching as a hail of blazing knives laced with Yellow Magic flew past him, and crashing against the roof with a cry as one sank into his back and sent a painful jolt through his body. Tears stung at the rogue's eyes as he fell against the rough wooden tiles, his breath coming in short gasps. How did she still have enough energy to cast magic?

The world became a timeless blur as Vyse reached back to pull the knife from his body. Up above, the Angel was a mere silhouette hung before the enormous Red Moon, floating as though she truly were some otherworldly being. Whether she was jumping or using magic, his mind could not comprehend; all he knew was that in the next few seconds, one of them was going to die.

Vyse could not even feel his arm as he threw the knife back at the Angel. As he expected, she deflected it with ease, but that was all he needed. Her timing was off a fraction of a second, and as she raised her scythe above her head to strike him down, as she fell upon him out of the sky like a bird of prey, he ducked underneath her, brought his cutlass up, and drove it straight forward. She tried to throw herself out of the way at the last second, but was too late – the moonstone blade still tore clean through her side. With an agonized cry, she crashed to the roof beside him and then fell still, allowing her weapon to slip from her hand and go crashing to the ground below.

A crowd had gathered beneath them, and Vyse could distantly hear people calling his name, but he ignored them as he dragged himself over to the fallen Angel. She was panting with both exhaustion and pain, and as he approached all she offered him was a venomous glare.

"Well, _Vyse?_ Are you going to finish me or not?" she rasped.

"That depends on how well you answer my questions," he replied, already beginning to feel his mind swim. "Why do you hunt me? Is Valua not your enemy?"

To his surprise, she laughed. It was a genuine if bitter laugh, and after a moment she broke off into a wet-sounding coughing fit. "You fool. You don't...recognize me, do you?"

"Should I?" he asked.

"Surely you remember," she replied with a shudder, her icy eyes never leaving his face. "The flames licking all around you, the fallen bodies of dozens of innocent men and women...Your little red-headed friend was running about them until I found her. Even though you were invading, she was unarmed; nevertheless I reacted like the soldier my father had taught me to be and drew my knife. I threw it with the intent to kill, but someone jumped in my way..."

Vyse's eyes widened. "That was _you_?"

"Yes, it was me. I gave you that scar and then left you to die on the ship that you burned!"

"If you thought I was dead, then why are you here now?"

She narrowed her eyes, but sweat was beading thickly on her forehead. "I never learned your name. If you were still alive, I knew I would recognize you by the mark I left on your cheek; if you were dead, so much the better. I've always kept an eye out for you. I've searched the face of every man I've killed."

He frowned. "But why?"

She growled at the question, leaning up and then falling back with an agonized cry as the pain from her wound shot through her. "Because you and your miserable crew killed my family!" she spat. "My mother, my father...and even my baby sister! They all died on...on board that ship!"

Vyse's eyes widened. "You're...Piastol?"

That caught her off guard, and she was wracked by another coughing fit. "...How do you know my name?"

"Piastol, there's something you don't understand," he said quickly, grimacing as he slurred a few words in his grogginess. He could feel his blood streaming hotly down his back, and didn't want to think about how much he had lost. "We didn't attack the _Aquila_. We tried to rescue the people on board! Maria, your sister...she's alive!"

"You're...lying..." she whispered, but shortly afterwards lost consciousness.

"Oh moons...don't die..." Vyse felt his insides lurch. "Don't tell me I killed her. Someone? Doc! Fina! Somebody help us!"

And then he too collapsed.

* * *

Vyse awoke late the next morning to Aika's face and some incomprehensible chatter between her and someone else. His best friend looked as tired as she was distressed, and busied herself by cleaning up the mess that had been left behind in his room. Gilder leaned in the open doorway, his jacket missing and a cigarette pressed between his lips. He gazed thoughtfully out over the quiet island, occasionally pulling a pistol out of the holsters at his side and spinning it around his fingers idly.

"Vyse?" Aika peered down at him uncertainly. "How are you doing?"

Vyse tried to sit up, only to feel a strange constriction on his shoulder. He reached out to touch it, discovering it had been bandaged. "Mnh...I'm okay I guess. How long have I been out?"

"Only since last night," she replied. "When we finally found a ladder and got up to the roof, we found you collapsed with that girl who tried to murder you. But Doc recognized the girl and took her back to his clinic. He and Fina spent all night trying to heal her."

Vyse tried to sit up again, more successful this time. "Did she live?"

Aika exchanged glances with Gilder. His mouth twitched somewhat, but he didn't say anything.

"Did she live?" Vyse repeated the question.

"Vyse, she tried to kill you. Why do you care?" she asked.

"Because that's Maria's older sister!" he replied.

"What?!"

"Remember that girl we ran into on the _Aquila_? The one who attacked you? That's who that is."

Aika stared at him incredulously.

"Sounds like you've got quite the history with the Mendosa family." Gilder flicked some ash out the door, frowning a little. "You do realize that after that incident, the 'official' report Valua released was that air pirates had attacked the ship?"

"But that's not true!" Aika protested. "Ramirez burned it!"

"I know," Gilder said, with a small smile. "But think about it. It's propaganda, Aika. Why would the Empire want the public to know that one of their officers had killed off an admiral? That makes them look weak from within. I imagine only the Armada itself and those in the palace knew the truth."

"And we weren't exactly in the right place at the right time," Vyse murmured. "That's why Piastol started hunting us..."

Aika gasped, then ran out the door.

Vyse blinked. "Where's she going?"

"She's heading off in the direction of the clinic, looks like," Gilder replied, peering outside. "The girl lived. Aika probably wants to talk to her. She lost her parents on that ship too, right?"

Vyse sighed, falling back onto his pillow. "Ugh. Gilder, everything's a mess. What am I supposed to do?"

Gilder shrugged. "I don't know if I can answer that without sounding like a complete asshole. It depends on the woman when they get like this. Sometimes you need to comfort them, and other times you have to give them their space. I'd give the gothic one her space, and try to talk to her when we come back from Dangral. Let her catch up with Doc and her sister and realize on her own that we're not the demons she makes us out to be."

"And Aika?"

Gilder took a moment to respond, his gaze never shifting from the doorway. "I wish I knew enough about her to answer that."

"We should probably just cast off then, huh?"

Gilder gave a faint nod, finally turning to look at Vyse. "I know it sounds cold, but there's nothing we can do here. We're in things too deep now to be able to afford the luxury of time. In these situations a captain's got to put his personal feelings aside and do what's best in the long run."

Vyse sighed. "I just don't want them to think that I'm running away from my problems..."

"You're not," Gilder said. "You'll confront them all – in due time."

* * *

The next day, Vyse gathered up his crew and filled them in as to what was going on. He ordered that they all stay behind and work to repair the _Delphinus_ as fast as possible; Moegi would be in charge in the meantime, and they were not to let Piastol go. Some were a bit miffed that he would be sailing with Gilder's crew instead of them, but understood well enough that their own ship was in no condition to fly.

The _Claudia_'s sails billowed as they were unfurled and instantly caught the wind. The ship lifted off from her makeshift dock as light as a feather, and accelerated into the clouds faster than the _Delphinus_ ever could have. She felt so airy compared to the heavy Valuan flagship, and Vyse had to smile a little as the air currents swept her off into Upper Sky. There really was nothing like a traditional sailing ship.

"What's her top speed nowadays, Gilder?" he asked.

"Oh, about one hundred and twenty Meridian knots," Gilder replied, nonchalantly.

"What?!"

Gilder laughed. "Bit fast for you?"

Vyse grinned. "The _Delphinus_ tops out at ninety."

"It's probably better we took the _Claudia_ either way," he replied, leaning back in his hanging chair and folding his arms behind his back. "Not only is she faster, but she's less conspicuous than the _Delphinus_. They'll be looking for you."

"How did you sneak into the base the first time?" Vyse asked.

"Through the port," Gilder replied. "But obviously that's not going to work now that they've got the whole thing set up. Thankfully, I've got a plan B."

"Which is...?"

"The ventilation shaft. They don't guard it. In fact, there's no eyes on that side of the island at all."

Vyse blinked. "Are they really that complacent?"

"Honestly? Yes." Gilder smirked. "They're not mass-producing the Yafutoman engines, and for a good reason. I believe they've only issued them thusfar to all the construction ships they needed and the Admirals – that's it. As far as they know, they're the only people who can reach Dangral Island, so why do they need to waste money on defense?"

"Heh. They're in for a rude awakening, then," Vyse replied.

"Oh, you bet."

* * *

Despite the steely shelter of the Dangral Island base, the wind could still be heard howling and moaning cacophonously outside, as if every man who had ever died out on the sea and plunged into the clouds was now giving voice to his misery. Belleza shivered and pulled her long, rose-colored jacket tighter around her; even though she was indoors, she still had the chills. She didn't like this underworld, and couldn't even begin to fathom why the Empress had wanted a base here. In fact, she couldn't even recall the Empress talking about it at _all_, but then again the woman had been very silent since the disappearance of her son, even moreso when she learned that Enrique purposefully wasn't coming home.

With a sigh, the lady Admiral shook the rain out of her hair and tried to smooth out her clothes. As impromptu as this meeting was, she still wanted to look at least halfway decent while in the presence of Lord Galcian. He was going to be angry enough as it was...

At last, the hallway ended into two heavy double doors, both of which where closed tightly. Belleza drew in a deep breath and then pulled one open, revealing a sparsely-decorated meeting room on the other side. Obviously built with haste, all it contained was a heavy oak table and some uncomfortable looking chairs, all but one of which had been filled by the other Admirals. As she entered, everyone but Ramirez turned to look at her.

"Good evening, all," she said, quietly. "My apologies, Lord Galcian, for my tardiness. This island was quite difficult to find."

He did not respond from where he stood at the head of the table, wrapped in his heavy black cloak. She swallowed a little and skirted over to the last open chair between Alfonso and DeLoco, feeling his eyes upon her the entire time.

"Well. Now that we are gathered..." Galcian scanned the six of them over, his gaze piercing and cold. "Something has recently come up. It is urgent and affects all of you, so I implore you to listen closely. Think upon what I am about to say, and deliver your answer in earnest."

"Ho ho! Words of wisdom from the Grand Admiral himself." Alfonso leaned an elbow upon the table and rested his chin in his palm. "Please do enlighten us."

Galcian was silent for a moment, his face unreadable. "From this day forward, the Armada will no longer be under the Empress' control, but mine. There are many reasons for this, none of which I will be sharing at this time. All of you have served under me for several years as we've expanded across this world, and Valua's success has been due to our efforts alone. So I will ask this now, and I will ask this once: will you follow me?"

The five original admirals jumped in their chairs, shocked by the implications of Galcian's words. Belleza felt her heart skip several beats and threw a desperate glance to Gregorio, but the old Admiral simply shook his head at her. Across from her, Ramirez was unusually calm, even for himself; she realized he must have known Galcian's intentions the entire time.

"I understand your surprise. It is to be expected," Galcian rumbled. "Those who do not wish to walk this path that I have chosen, leave now. Those who wish to hear my plans, stay."

"Admiral Galcian, do you realize what you are saying?" Gregorio asked, cautiously.

"Madness! Have you gone insane, Galcian!?" Alfonso sprang to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process, and jabbed an accusing finger at the Lord Admiral. "Are you rebelling against the Empress?"

Galcian only chuckled, unusually patient. "Fear not, Alfonso, I still have my wits about me. As I said, I am following my own path now. It is your decision whether or not you wish to come with me."

Alfonso smirked cruelly, flicking a tendril of hair out of his face. "So the Grand Admiral finally shows his true intentions. I get it, I get it." He became serious. "Those words are treasonous! The punishment is death!"

"Speak in that manner again and I shall cleave you in two," snapped a cold voice from across the room. Belleza spared a glance back at Ramirez, who was glaring murderously in Alfonso's direction. The former First Admiral looked ready to wet himself under the Silvite's gaze.

Galcian laughed. "Hold, Ramirez. There is no need for you to waste your energy on this whelp. If he wishes to go, then let him go."

Ramirez nodded stiffly, his eyes still on Alfonso. Alfonso hissed and stormed out the door.

Suddenly Belleza became aware of Galcian's gaze back upon her. She shifted uncomfortably, lifting her eyes to meet his own.

"Belleza? Where do you stand?"

"Lord Galcian..." She dropped her eyes to the table, afraid they would betray the turmoil she felt. "You know I will follow you always."

He looked pleased. "Vigoro?"

Vigoro shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "I don't care who I fight for, as long as I'm fightin'. You've got my loyalty as long as I'm out on the front line."

"Carlos?"

"Oh come now, Lord Galcian." DeLoco smirked. "I've gone through all this trouble already just to build you a ship that will go into Deep Sky. Don't you think that I will stay? Your vision has so much potential for new innovations..."

Galcian nodded, his gaze falling on Gregorio. "Gregorio...what will you do?"

Gregorio hesitated, watching the Lord Admiral with an even gaze. "Lord Galcian, what is your goal? I do not think that you are seeking the Imperial Throne. What is it you want?"

"You are right. That is not my goal." Galcian smirked. "I desire power. More power than Valua has ever had. That is all I will say for now."

Gregorio nodded slowly. "Very well..."

"Good." Galcian smiled, but it held no warmth. "We will adjourn for an hour, then, while I assemble some things. Afterwards, I will share with you my vision for the future of the Armada, and where we will be going from here. You are dismissed."

Silently, the five rose from the table, saluted him, and headed out the door.

Once Belleza was outside, she drew in a shuddering breath and sped off back the way she came, ignoring the other Admirals. All she wanted now was to be back on the _Lynx_, desperate for privacy in which to brood. She could not believe this was happening. This was not _supposed_ to happen! How was she supposed to choose between that man and her country? Why had she even agreed to it in the first place?

Distressed, the lady admiral swept across the port and climbed aboard the sanctuary of her ship, sending her men away so that she could think in private. Coherent thoughts would not come to her, however, and after a time she realized she was only pacing back and forth along the bridge instead of getting anywhere sorting her feelings out. With a long sigh, she strode over to one of the windows and gazed out of it, watching the tumultuous clouds rage on below. All of the sudden, the clouds did not seem alien to her, but familiar. All of the sudden, she felt just like them.

"You know it means war, do you not?" came a voice from behind her. She turned to see that Gregorio had followed her, apparently having no problem keeping up with her brisk pace.

"What do you mean?"

"For all intents and purposes, Galcian is his own country now. He answers to nothing and no one, much like the air pirates he so despises." Gregorio smiled, bitterly. "Valua _will_ clash with him. The two will inevitably go to war."

Tears stung at her eyes. "You think I haven't realized that? The whole reason I've been fighting this whole time...the reason I've killed Nasreans and Yafutomans and air pirates...is moot now. I'm a hypocrite, Gregorio. What am I supposed to do!?"

"You wanted to tell him no. Why didn't you?" The old admiral became stern.

Belleza turned away, unable to look in his face any longer. "...If I leave, I will become his enemy. I will destroy all chance of ever--"

"Ever what? Winning his love?" She cringed under those words, even as Gregorio put a ginger hand upon her shoulder. "Belleza...you need to stop fooling yourself. That man has no capacity for love in his heart. If you continue on this path, he is only going to use you."

"But you said yes too!" she protested, still not turning to face him.

"Only to protect a foolish woman who is acting like a child," he replied, sternly. "I plan to leave as soon as I know the extent of his ambitions. If he is willing to betray my country, then I am willing to betray him in kind. Do you really wish to abandon the throne? Could you look Prince Enrique in the eye and tell him that you believe you're making the right decision?"

Belleza bowed her head, feeling herself shrivel up inside. A few tears ran down her cheeks, trailing her mascara with them. "...No..." she murmured.

"Then come with me," Gregorio gently insisted. "When the time is right, we will leave this forsaken base and return to the Empress' side. We are the only ones in the world who know how Galcian operates. We are the only ones in the world who can give what remains of the true Armada a chance."

* * *

A faint drizzle of rain misted the rigging of the _Claudia_ as she drifted down into Lower Sky like a puff of dandelion caught on the breeze. Gilder frowned to himself as he carefully leveled her out and set her on a roundabout course, riding the fickle winds to the south. The pirate ship creaked and groaned in protest under the increased pressure, but her flight remained as smooth as ever despite everything.

Vyse, Aika, Fina and Enrique sat quietly with him on the bridge, gazing out the windows at the strange scenery that passed. Vyse thought he would have been relieved to be back under the Silver Moon at last, but instead he was unable to shake the strange feeling of foreboding that hung chokingly over the deep cloud layer. He frowned to himself as his gaze followed the churning pattern of the clouds far off into the distance, where they all seemed to coalesce and then vanish, swallowed by a black hole several miles wide. In all his years of living in Mid Ocean, Vyse had never seen such a thing before, and wondered how he had missed it.

"What is that?" he asked at last.

"It is known as the Vortex," Fina replied. "It is the eye of a giant hurricane that has spanned Arcadia for hundreds of years. I am not sure if anyone's done it, but our sailors have been told that if they ever needed to get down to the surface, the Vortex was the only way."

The five of them continued on in silence for a time, watching as two small, jagged shapes in the distance grew near. Eventually they took on the forms of two islands: one was an unusual crescent shape and reminded Vyse of the "fortune cookies" they had seen in Yafutoma; the other sat about two miles out from it and was much smaller, roughly shaped like an apostrophe. Both sported brand-new military facilities built from red steel that melded into the barren rock and were brightly lit by a myriad of spotlights. The open-air port of the larger island cradled all of the Armada's flagships save the _Chameleon_, and was bustling with workers who appeared to be extending a large I-beam out into midair.

"Moons!" Vyse exclaimed. "We've passed this island hundreds of times in the past and there's never been anything on it."

"I can't believe they built a base here so quickly." Aika blinked. "Are they trying to connect the two islands? What's on the little one?"

"More importantly, how do we get the _Claudia_ close without them noticing it?" Enrique frowned, eying the activity in the port dubiously.

"We won't be taking the _Claudia_ past here," Gilder said, signaling something through the window at one of his crewmembers out on deck. "We'll be taking a skiff instead, like we did in Nasrad. Well...you weren't there for that. Either way, it's far less conspicuous, even with the sail up. We blend in with everything down here."

"I guess as long as we stay out of the light, we'll probably be okay." Aika peered more closely out the window, studying the layout of the island. "They don't even have any cannons mounted out there. They're certainly sure of themselves..."

Gilder chuckled a little, locking the wheel in place. "Alright! Grab your weapons – it's field trip time. We'll be performing this much like Operation Clara, except the _Claudia_ will be circling the area. Ready to go?"

Vyse nodded. "Let's get this over with."

Together, the five jogged below deck where a skiff was already prepared for them. Gilder exchanged a few words with his crewmembers as they loaded their belongings and started the engine of the little vessel, and when he rejoined them they cast off.

The little skiff wobbled unsteadily in the unpredictable winds, and Gilder struggled with it to keep it steady. The rest of them leaned back and forth across the deck to shift the small craft's weight and counter-balance it, and they slowly made their way forward without Valua batting an eyelash at them. Eventually they were able to swing around the back of the island, and landed the skiff beside a large open shaft that descended several feet into the ground. They quickly furled up the sails and hid the skiff as best they could, tucking it away into a rocky crevice.

"Alright, this shaft is a back entrance of sorts. It's only used for maintenance," Gilder explained. "We'll be in the circuit rooms and the ventilation ducts, so we can use that to our advantage. The layout of this base is very simple, but a lot of times we'll only have one way to go and that means trouble if we get caught. I don't need to tell you guys to keep a low profile."

The four of them nodded.

"Our target is the repair bay. If this ship of theirs exists, it's likely being outfitted in there. That's probably got the information we seek."

"If you know the way, then lead on," Vyse said. "The faster we get this done, the better."

Gilder grinned, nodded, and then jumped down into the shaft.

The shaft was a good twenty or so feet down, with a large fan at the bottom covered by a grate. From it led only one door, which Vyse unlocked with ease. They found themselves in a long and narrow hallway with a few doors branching out from it, dimly lit and lined with nothing but cold steel. Gilder took a moment to get his bearings, then nodded to them and jogged down the hall, one hand resting just inside his jacket.

Turning a corner, they found themselves facing a room filled with a tangle of pipes, wires and spasming gages. Two men monitored them closely, wandering about the room as they took notes about the readings in little books. Gilder looked at Fina and jerked his head at the two men expectantly, but it took her a moment to realize what he was asking. Closing her eyes, she whispered something under her breath and the two suddenly hit the ground cold, caught in a dreamless slumber.

Satisfied, Gilder tugged Enrique along with him into the room and poured over the the different controls scattered in it, asking the Prince quick questions about which did what. After a few minutes' consultation, they cut a few wires and the lights in the hallway went out.

"Alright, we've got our distraction," Gilder whispered. "Follow me!"

Vyse had to grin a little at the wild look in the older captain's eyes. This was all a game to him, he knew – a foolish, very dangerous game, but a game nevertheless.

Letting Aika climb up on his shoulders, Vyse gave her a boost to the ceiling, where she pulled away a grating covering the ventilation duct and nimbly crawled inside. Afterwards she helped Fina up, who helped Enrique, who helped him; Gilder took up the rear, closing the grate behind them.

The duct was cramped but wide enough for them to crouch in if they needed to, permeated by light filtering through the vents set at regular intervals. Gilder pointed ahead of them and nodded and Aika began to crawl along on her stomach, peering curiously through the vents as she passed. After a moment, the others awkwardly followed.

Vyse listened hard as they crawled along, trying to make sure the noise they made was drowned out by the howling of the wind outside. Occasionally, as they passed over vents, he caught glimpses of soldiers working below and picked up bits of their conversations. Even they didn't seem to know what was going on with the base, but they knew Admiral DeLoco was working on his 'most ambitious project yet' and that Gregorio, Belleza and Alfonso seemed extremely upset.

_What does that mean_? He wondered, pausing to unhook his tunic from where it snagged on a vent. _Are the Admirals disagreeing on something? Why now?_

Aika suddenly paused as the duct dead ended into a fork, glancing back at Gilder quizzically. He jerked a thumb to the right and she nodded, continuing on carefully until she came to another dead end. Here she peered through the vent cautiously, then kicked it out and dropped down below. Everyone hesitantly followed.

They found themselves in a long, wide hallway punctuated on either side by storage rooms at regular intervals. Gilder led them straight across and through a door at the end, opening into another hall almost identical to the first. The far side ended in a lift that was currently on another floor, but they ignored it entirely as Gilder passed through a door beside it instead. Once on the other side, he immediately ducked behind a pile of crates, pulling the four of them with him.

They had wound up just above the port, where dozens of Valuan soldiers were working on extending the railing out towards the tiny island in the distance. The entire landing was abuzz with activity, and the air was rent with the din of riveting, the clang of metal, and the distinctive whine of electric machinery, so loud that Vyse couldn't even hear the wind anymore. He cautiously peered over a crate to get his bearings, a challenge in a scene lit largely by welding torches. He only hoped they were distracted enough not to notice them.

Gilder tapped the crate to get their attention, gesturing that it was time to move on. As one, the five carefully moved from one shelter to the next, ducking behind crates and heavy machinery as they made themselves available. As they finally reached a door on the far end of the alcove, Aika sent a spark of fire magic into one of the torches, causing it to explode. Gilder eyed her sternly for a moment, but slowly broke into a wicked grin.

After passing through another bland hallway, the five discovered a large door that was guarded by two soldiers. Fina again used her sleeping magic and, with Vyse's help, Gilder dragged the two men away and stuffed them in some lockers located nearby so they wouldn't be found.

"Almost home free," he murmured.

Carefully prying the door open, they found themselves in a cavernous port filled with more cranes and machines than Vyse could properly identify. Engineers and workers alike swarmed the u-boat like hundreds of ants, welding steel plates together and taking measurements. Several moved to and from the bridge, their faces buried in books and scrolls and blueprints.

The _Chameleon_ had changed, but only subtly. It seemed to have recently gained several more layers of armor, and many of the windows on it had been covered up. Something new had been attached to the front, but Vyse couldn't tell what it was; with DeLoco, it could have been anything.

Gilder left them momentarily to do a quick bit of scouting around, sticking to the shadows cast by the ship and the scaffolding surrounding it. When he returned, he beckoned to them and pulled them into a side office where a desk was literally heaping with blueprints, closing and locking the door behind him.

"Alright, well that wasn't too bad," he said, cracking his knuckles. "Let's see what we've got here..."

Aika came up beside him and shuffled through a few piles of papers, gasping as her eyes fell on one in particular. She pulled it out and held it up to the light for them to see, pointing to an illustration of a round, cylindrical object scrawled across its surface.

"What is this supposed to be?" she asked. "It looks like a Yafutoman engine, but...different."

"That's...hold on." Enrique frowned and took the map from her, narrowing his eyes at it. "...Unbelievable."

"What?" Vyse asked.

Enrique shook his head. "DeLoco did more than just reverse engineer Yafutoman technology – he took it a step farther. Gilder was right. This is an engine that supposedly has enough power to push a ship into Deep Sky."

Fina blinked. "But the pressure down there is crushing. Your ships could never survive as they are..."

Enrique nodded, placing the blueprints down and flipping through a few more papers on the table. "According to these notes, they've been having problems with just that. It seems the engine's been done for a while, but they've had to keep modifying and repairing the _Chameleon _so that it can survive down there. Apparently the pressure was so great that the hull started to cave in and the windows shattered. To date they haven't made it to the bottom."

"We've still got time, then," Vyse said. "What are we going to need to make the _Delphinus_ strong enough?"

"Well, we've got the engine..." Gilder took the appropriate blueprints, rolled them up tightly, and tucked them into his jacket. "Looks like they're putting several inches of plating over the hull...guess we'll need that too. And...hm. Shutters on the windows. Alright..." He continued plucking papers from the pile.

"What about air?" Fina asked.

Aika blinked. "What about it?"

Fina shook her head, digging through the paper piles. "I'm trying to remember my lessons. I don't think the air is breathable down there. Silvite ships have to have their cabins filled with air so that we don't faint from extreme altitudes."

"How do you do that?" Aika asked, curiously.

"We use blue moonstones, but it looks like..." Fina paused, blinked, and held up a paper, staring at it in confusion. "They're putting air into tanks? How strange..."

Aika grimaced. "I'd rather go with the moonstones. At least we know those won't fail."

"Like most of DeLoco's inventions do?" Vyse grinned.

Enrique rolled his eyes. "The _Delphinus_ has worked just fine."

"True."

"We can continue discussing this once we're out of here," Gilder said. "Obviously there's a bunch of details we'll have to work out, and this is going to cost a lot of money – but there's no use worrying about that now. The longer we stay here, the more likely it is we'll get caught."

Vyse nodded. "Let's go."

Gilder unlocked the door and cracked it open just enough to peer out of it. Certain that nobody was watching them, he slunk back out into the port and into the shadows again, pulling the four of them along with him. As they got back to the door and opened it up, however, they found that Fina's spell had worn off early and the guards had freed themselves from the locker. They immediately drew their weapons and prepared to strike.

Reacting instantly, Gilder whipped a pistol out of his jacket and shot them both, leaving them to crumple in the doorway as he hastily ushered everyone through. Vyse didn't need to look back to know the gunfire had been enough to draw attention, and grit his teeth as he broke into a run with the others down the hall. They would have to be fast to get out of this one.

Knowing they wouldn't have enough time to crawl into a vent, Gilder ignored the air ducts and ran straight through the base, kicking open doors recklessly along the way. More than once they ran into armed guards, and more than once they had to kill them, leaving their crumpled bodies lying in the hallway for their pursuers to find. It left a horrible, bitter taste in Vyse's mouth, and the more that blood coated his swords, the more he wished they were already safe back on the _Claudia_ and far, far away from Dangral Island. He didn't want to have to take responsibility for so many lives.

Occasionally, Vyse spared a quick glance over his shoulder to see if they were being followed, but so far they had somehow put a considerable distance between themselves and whoever might have been pursuing them. Their strange good fortune continued as they skittered around a corner and emerged back out onto the landing that was under heavy construction, as the workers were distracted with the exploded welder and those who had been injured by it. They hesitated only momentarily to make sure the workers were not watching before sprinting across the work site to the door on the other end.

Just as they closed the door behind them, the lift suddenly dropped down from above, carrying on it a large figure clutching an even larger two-handed sword. Vyse had seen it once before, but never gotten a good look at it; it was of a make he had never seen, wide at the base and narrow at the tip. The blade was almost as long as its wielder was tall, and decorated in black and gold runes he could not pin to any one culture in particular. Vyse got the feeling the weapon was a relic, a remnant of the Old World that had survived unscathed; it, and the man who held it, radiated immense power.

He had stood in a similar position before, cornered while the wielder of the sword gazed down upon him confidently. Fina shuffled behind him uneasily, unable to meet the man's gaze.

"Galcian..."

"It appears we meet again," the Lord Admiral said, taking a step off the lift and considering the youths assembled before him as a cat might consider a toy. "Your feats thusfar have been very impressive. Not even my admirals have cheated death as many times as you have." His stony face broke into a smirk then, as he wrapped his fingers around the hilt of his sword and brandished it at them commandingly. "...However, I do not think you will be able to do it again."

Enrique suddenly growled and pushed past Vyse, glaring up at the admiral. "Galcian! What is the meaning of this? What is Valua planning to do with a base all the way down here?"

That caused Galcian to chuckle. "Why, if it isn't the Little Prince! If I'm not mistaken, Your Highness, whatever Valua does is no longer any of your concern. _You_ were the one who threw away his responsibilities and sided with these...pirates."

Enrique scowled. "I threw away nothing! I am working to rebuild the Empire!"

Galcian arched a brow. "Is that what they call treason nowadays? I shall have to keep that in mind." He grinned. "It matters not to me regardless; I've no interest in Valua anymore. This is not Valua's base, but my own. I no longer take orders from your conniving mother, and I most certainly do not take them from you."

Enrique was utterly blown away. All he could do was stare at the man, giving a disbelieving gasp.

Vyse grit his teeth. "Hmph. Of all the people to get caught by..."

As Galcian took another step forward, the door on the far end of the hall suddenly swung open and a grizzled-looking Gregorio stepped through. The old man carried with him a long spear and a heavy shield, both of which he held as though they weighed nothing. Galcian smirked cruelly as he saw him, pausing for the moment to let Gregorio advance.

"Uncle..." Enrique looked white as a ghost. "How...How ironic, that fate has led us here to pit sword against sword with one another..."

Gregorio's mustache quirked as he continued to calmly walk forward, pausing only when he reached the four of them. "Do not look so aghast, Prince Enrique. I am not here to fight you." And with that, he shouldered past the five of them and stared up into Galcian's face.

Galcian was frighteningly calm. "Gregorio. You understand the consequences of your actions..."

Gregorio positively bristled at that. "Lord Galcian, it appears that _you_ do not understand the consequences of _your _actions! You seek to revive an ancient horror and use it to make the world yours. It will destroy you and then the rest of Arcadia – and I will not sit here and let that happen!"

"What are you doing!?" Enrique cried.

Gregorio kept his eyes on Galcian, who returned his gaze coldly. "Prince, you spoke the truth when last we met at Esparanza. The Empire has chosen the wrong path, and you and Vyse are the only ones who can hope to stop this. Allow my last act to be in your honor."

Before Enrique could protest, Gregorio whirled around and swung his spear at them, forcing them to stumble back into the nearest doorway. "I will hold him off. Escape while you still can."

"What are you saying!?" Enrique exclaimed. "We'll fight with you!"

Gregorio shook his head. "You must not take Galcian lightly! That man has eldritch powers – he's like nothing you can ever imagine."

"But--"

"Think logically, Enrique! This is a military base of the Armada! If you do not escape soon, you will all be surrounded." Gregorio became grim. "If the five of you die, then our salvation dies with you. Go now. Valua's hope lies with you...Young Prince."

And then he swung the door closed, bolting it from the other side.

"Uncle! Uncle Gregorio, NO!" Enrique flung himself at the door, pounding on it desperately. "Open the door, Uncle! Don't do this! PLEASE!"

Vyse and Gilder grimaced, hesitantly standing and pulling the prince away. He kicked and struggled against them, trying to force his way back to the door with tears streaming from his eyes. "UNCLE!"

"Gregorio. Have you made your peace?" came Galcian's voice from the other side.

Gregorio's armor rattled. "I am ready to die, Lord Galcian, but I shall die defending my people against a tyrant."

The clash of steel and burst of magic echoed throughout the hallways no matter how far the five of them seemed to run. Their escape route was eerily empty, and Vyse got the feeling that Gregorio had removed the guards from their posts shortly before confronting Galcian. The only thing impeding them was Enrique, who he and Gilder literally had to drag out of the complex. By the time the sounds of battle had faded behind them, the prince was exhausted from fighting the two of them the entire way.

At last they returned to the darkened maintenance halls, where the engineers were still asleep. They hurried out the door and into the air shaft, scaling it back up to where they had hidden the skiff. Fina and Aika helped him and Gilder pull the skiff out and unfurl its sails, and together they gingerly loaded the devastated prince on the boat before casting off at top speed. They had barely gotten away from the island before the _Claudia_ boldly swooped down and scooped the five of them up, disappearing as fast as she could into the clouds above in case the Armada had seen her.

* * *

Nobody had bothered to give chase, however. Galcian had called all troops off the moment he caught the shooting from DeLoco's bridge, determined to eliminate the pirates and their pet Silvite himself. Gregorio had been an unforeseen distraction, and as he gazed at the crumpled form of the old man at his feet, lying in a growing pool of his own blood, he almost felt regret. The Lord Admiral reached up to wipe some of his own blood from a long gash in his cheek, panting lightly for breath. Gregorio had proven to be far more capable than he anticipated; in the end, he had ended the man's life mercifully by reciting the spell Ramirez had taught him – Eternum – and killing him instantly.

"Gregorio...You always were the kind to stay last on a sinking ship..."

He became aware of the clank of plate armor behind him, and turned to see two officers from the _Draco_ standing there, frozen in shock. They flinched a little under his gaze, hesitantly straightening up.

"My lord! What is going on?" one asked.

Galcian grunted, turning to push past them and return to the elevator. "...Send him back to Valua, and make sure the body is well taken care of. It is worth more than either of your lives."

* * *

**(( For a dev blog featuring progress, updates, and theorycrafting on the story as I continue it along, please visit http://princess-paola . livejournal . com ))**


	32. Underworld

As far out as Crescent Isle was from the Nasrean continent, it still wasn't completely immune from the Red Moon's sweltering gaze. With a heavy sigh, Enrique tugged off his beret and threw it on the ground beside him, collapsing into a sitting position and tucking his knees to his chest. He had no shelter from the heat, but he didn't care; he wanted to be away from everyone for a while, and wanted to sit where he could watch the clouds below. Here, at the tip of the island, he could do just that.

The wind was stiff and hot, and carried the raucous din coming from the _Delphinus_' port with it. Vyse had a new project, and he was tearing into it with gusto – or as much as Brabham would let him. The prince had to admit that he was thankful for the Deep Sky modifications; it would keep the others distracted long enough for him to think.

Thinking was really all he had done lately. He had isolated himself from everyone on the trip back from Dangral, and refused to leave the _Claudia_ when they had stopped at Sailor's Island for construction supplies. But as much as he had thought, he hadn't really sorted anything out. His harried mind would jump from one thing to the next, creating a chaotic and incoherent jumble that only stressed him further. With a low groan, the prince buried his fingers in his thick hair and squeezed his eyes shut, blinking away the tears that threatened to beset him for the second time that day. He may have been heir to the most powerful empire ever, he may have had all the wealth and riches in the world, but he would have given it all away in a second to have Gregorio back.

_First Father...and now Gregorio..._ He sighed, shaking his head helplessly. _The two most influential men in my life, gone. What am I supposed to do? Who do I turn to now? There's nobody left to guide me..._

A hand on his shoulder caused him to jump, and he jerked his head up to find Moegi standing there, the breeze tousling her hair and pulling several strands free of the long braid she had it in. Though she did her best to look solemn, her eyes betrayed her concern, and he couldn't help but to smile a little as the constriction around his heart eased. He reached up to squeeze her hand gently, and she carefully settled down beside him, sitting with her legs tucked underneath her.

"Prince Enrique...I've been worried about you," she said with a frown. "You haven't joined us for a meal since you arrived home."

"I didn't mean to cause you any concern, princess." He turned his gaze back out to Lower Sky, watching the clouds roll past distantly. "There's just...been a lot on my mind."

"Captain Vyse told me something terrible happened..." she replied after a moment. "He said the Armada has betrayed Valua. Is that why you are upset?"

"In part." Enrique found himself frowning as well. "Moegi, I have told you of the Armada. You remember my uncle, yes? Gregorio?"

She nodded. "Oh, yes. How could I forget? You speak of him so often. He sounds like a very good man."

"...He's dead."

That startled her, and she paused for a long while, staring at him.

Enrique bowed his head, unwilling to let her see his pained expression. "Gregorio has always been loyal to Valua and her throne, but it appears Galcian was not. I don't know if it was the Armada's betrayal that caused my uncle to do what he did or the fact that Galcian was pursuing us when he learned we were on the island, but as we stood there...trapped...Gregorio came forth to defend us. He fought with Galcian so we could escape."

"And Lord Galcian killed him..." she finished, quietly.

"He knew he was fighting a losing battle." Enrique shook his head. "He told me Galcian was more powerful than I could imagine. And he's right, Moegi – I _can't_ imagine. I cannot possibly comprehend anyone stronger than my uncle, or my father. They've always been my heroes."

Moegi offered a small smile, squeezing his arm tightly. "It is good you grieve for your uncle, but you should not lose yourself to despair, Enrique. You should be proud that you are kin to so honorable a man. In Yafutoma, such actions are held in the highest regard. That Admiral Gregorio was willing to sacrifice everything for his family, his country, his beliefs...why, he would not be a hero to just you. He would be a hero to thousands. He is the kind of warrior that poems and songs are written about."

"It's more than just that, though," Enrique replied, sighing. "Gregorio was my mentor, my guidance. Ever since I was a little boy he was there to show me the world. Who do I turn to now?"

Moegi blinked, as if he had asked her a simple question. "Yourself," she replied, matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"All little birds must fly on their own one day," the princess replied, smiling. "Admiral Gregorio has given you his strength; now it is time for you to draw upon that strength and walk on your own."

"But what does that mean?" he asked, searching her face desperately.

"It means you must take your past experience...all that you have learned and gained from your uncle and your father...and decide for yourself what is right." She tapped a finger against his chest, over his heart. "The answers lie in here, Prince Enrique. You know them; you just refuse to acknowledge them."

He fell silent to that, his eyes falling to the ground as he reached up to take her hand.

"What does your heart say to do?" she asked, softly.

"I...I should go back to Valua..." he murmured, after a moment. "I need to warn my mother and my people of Galcian's betrayal. I...need to prepare Valua for war, maybe even try to get Nasr's aid. But I doubt they'd aid us now..."

"So you will leave Captain Vyse and the others here?"

"I-I have to. I can't take them to Valua with me." He shook his head.

"Will you take me with you instead?"

"I..." Enrique looked up at her, then immediately looked away, unable to watch her pleading expression. "I can't. I won't endanger you."

"But Prince Enrique--"

"No...I can't compromise this." He closed his eyes. "My power in Valua is tenuous at best – very few high-ranking people listen to me. I couldn't protect you there, and if Galcian lays siege to the capital, then you'd be in even greater danger. The best thing for you to do right now is to stay here with Vyse and the others. They can take care of you, and they'll need all the help they can get." He paused then, taking up her other hand as well and giving them both a squeeze. "But when all this is over, I swear to you I'll return. I'll take you back to Valua, and together we'll...we'll make things right."

She gazed up at him, searching his eyes sadly. "...It is a promise then. I will wait for you as long as it takes."

He smiled. "I will not leave you waiting for long."

* * *

"They're so cute together." Aika smiled as she leaned over the balcony railing, a wistful expression on her face. "He's really been down in the dumps lately. I'm glad he's at least got her to lean on."

"Aren't you being kind of invasive of their privacy?" Gilder asked from behind her, leaning against the wall of her room with a smirk.

Aika rolled her eyes. "It's not invasive if they're out in public. Besides, this is the first time he's come out of his room in days. Vyse and I can't get him to talk to us. I've been worried."

"Eh, he'll be fine." Gilder shrugged. "He's changed in the time he's been traveling with you. I can tell."

Aika frowned at him disapprovingly. "Are you always so insensitive?"

Gilder arched a brow in surprise. "Who's being insensitive? I'm saying the guy's stronger than he was when he left Valua. Sure, you can't tell it right now, but he'll come out of this a better man."

"Maybe you're right..." She gazed out over the balcony again and to the small lake below, where Kirala had introduced a beautiful species of Yafutoman water-fish. "Looking back, this is probably the hardest thing Enrique's ever faced."

Gilder only nodded, and a silence fell between them for a time.

"So what did you call me up here for, anyway?" he finally asked.

She shrugged, watching her reflection in the water down below. "I just wanted someone to talk to. Vyse and Fina are all absorbed in this project, and Enrique's been spending all his time by himself. I mean, I want to get the _Delphinus_ ready too, but I don't want to work on it all day like Vyse does. I kind of miss the old days, when sailing wasn't so much about business."

Gilder chuckled a little, joining her against the railing. "You're not having fun? When did that change?"

"Oh no! I'm still having fun. Sneaking through that base was a blast! And before that, skydiving was even more exciting." She paused, putting her chin in a palm thoughtfully. "But it just seems like after the _Little Jack _sank, everything's been so much more serious. People are starting to get worn down, I can tell. In fact, the only person who hasn't really changed is, well..." She smiled. "You."

"Yeah, but where have I been?" He pushed his pierce-nez up so that they hid his eyes. "I've been out carousing while you guys do the hard stuff."

"Liar." She elbowed him. "You told us last month that you had been tracking Valua and causing problems for them. You expect me to believe that you did that completely for yourself?"

"Yep."

"So all that gold you had on board the _Claudia_ when we needed supplies just happened to be there?"

"Pretty much."

"Gilder..." She rolled her eyes.

"Hey. You know as well as I do that I'm attached to you guys." He shook his head. "I'm afraid that the more time I spend here, the harder it will be to leave."

"And that's a bad thing?" she asked, with genuine curiosity.

"Well..."

Aika smirked. "Oh, I get it. It's that whole responsibility thing, right? We can take care of ourselves, you know."

"Bah. I know that." Gilder shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know why I feel so drawn to you guys, but when I'm with you, I feel at home. I've been sailing longer than you have, yes, but it never really had a purpose until now."

"Then stay," she said, quietly.

He pursed his lips thoughtfully and hesitated, gazing out at the water for a long time. But finally his face broke into a little grin, and he leaned over to elbow her gently. "I'll think about it."

* * *

"What do you think? Can you finish it by tonight?" Vyse asked, wiping sweat from his brow as he stood back to look up at the _Delphinus_. Beside him, a grease-covered Brabham had buried himself in papers as the two of them stood before a huge cylindrical object, which several of his crewmembers were scrambling over like ants.

"Yer damn right I can," Brabham replied, without looking up. "Won't be able to test it on anything, though. You sure you wanna rush it?"

"Heh. Don't have much of a choice, really." The rogue grinned lopsidedly. "Where'd Fina go?"

"I've got her inside workin' on wiring. Seemed very excited that I wanted her to help. Manual labor will do her some good, methinks. 'Sides, if she wants to keep sailing with you lot, she'd better learn something about ship repair." Brabham gave Vyse a toothless grin, then finally rolled up all his blueprints and put them away.

Vyse shook his head, his expression turning wry. "I don't get these metal ships, Brabham. I love the _Delphinus_, but she's so damn complicated. Not sure how I'd get this done without you."

"Eh, what comes out of Valua that _isn't_ complicated, m'boy?" He laughed. "Go on, now, git outta here. Yer in my way."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Vyse smirked, then unhooked the tools from around his belt, dropped them at the elderly engineer's feet, and headed back up towards the surface. Much as he wanted to continue working on the _Delphinus_, there wasn't much left to be done; all the heavy grunt work -- such as reinforcing the ship or the actual building of the engine – had already been finished. All that remained now were the more delicate tasks that either Vyse wasn't good at, or Brabham didn't trust him with.

But it was just as well. He had some loose ends to tie up.

Emerging into the sunlight, Vyse was forced to pause and squint as his eyes re-adjusted to the brightness. It was hotter than he had been expecting out, and going from the cool, sheltered port to the stiff, dry Nasrean air was a rather stark change. Half-blindly, the rogue shaded his eyes and ambled his way towards the small white house that doubled as Doc's clinic, trying to formulate in his head what he was going to say when he got there. He hadn't really spoken with Doc or Maria since being attacked, and worried slightly that they might think differently of him due to his apparent conflicts with Piastol.

The house was unusually quiet when he arrived. It was rare that Doc didn't have visitors, especially when the _Delphinus_ was being worked on and injuries were fairly common. Feeling a slight bit apprehensive, Vyse knocked on the door, but when no reply came, he opened it up and quietly went inside.

The house smelled a strange mixture of baked goods and medicine. The living areas were a mess for the most part – the mark of a bachelor – but the rooms that Doc used to treat patients were all completely spotless. A warm light and soft voices drifting from the back room were the only indications that anyone was even home, yet somehow the house still managed to feel empty. Hesitating, Vyse looked around for Doc but, seeing no signs of him, followed the voices to the back.

The back room was tiny, just enough for a bed, a chair, and a small table. The window was open and the curtains were flowing in the stiff breeze; Maria gazed forlornly through it into the sky, with Piastol sitting in a robe on the edge of the bed beside her. The elder sister was the first to notice movement, immediately snapping her head up and staring, almost warily, at the doorway. As her icy gaze settled on Vyse, her brow twitched lightly, but she said nothing.

"Uhm...hey," he said, awkwardly breaking the silence.

"Don't you knock?" she asked, but the words lacked her previous venom. If anything, she sounded tired.

"Vyse! Oh, Vyse!" Maria turned from the window and gazed at him sadly. "Piccolo flew away, Vyse! And he hasn't come back!"

"What?" He blinked. "He did?"

Maria nodded soberly. "With all those fish we've been giving him, he got real big real fast. Then just today, when I went outside, he flew away. He said he needed to return to his family and friends. I'm so sad..."

"I'm sorry, Maria." Vyse offered the most reassuring smile he could muster. "But I'm sure Piccolo's family was worried about him."

"Oh, I know." She nodded slightly. "Me and Piccolo...we're a lot alike. We both were alone without any friends. But then we found each other, and now we found our families too. When I think about it like that, it makes it a little better."

Beside her, Piastol gave a small smile.

Vyse looked up from Maria to Piastol, then tugged out the chair, turned it around backwards, and sat with his arms resting over the back.

"And you? How are you doing?"

"Decent, considering what you did to me," she replied after a moment, her tone wry. "I must admit I'm a little surprised you thought to pay me a visit."

Vyse frowned a little. "I wasn't fighting you out of hatred or malice. I was defending myself, that's all. And if I had known who you were--"

"If I had known Maria was on this island, I probably would have stayed my hand as well. But 'if' is a terrible word, because all it makes you do is think useless thoughts." She shook her head. "It turned out for the best. That's all I'm worried about right now."

"Heh. Do you still hate me?" he asked.

Piastol hesitated, casting her gaze to the ground. "For seven...maybe even eight years now...I've grown up believing what I believed. It was all I knew, all I felt, and to me it was truth. Then your friend came in here the other night to talk to me and, well...when you find out you've been wrong after so many years...when you realize you've been lying to yourself, refusing to see the truth...it's hard to come to terms with that. It's hard to change." She frowned then, lifting her gaze to meet his. "So yes, I'm trying to change, if that is what you are asking. But it's...going to take some time."

He smirked a little. "That wasn't my question."

She glared at him momentarily, then shook her head. "I am not proud of what I've done. I do not hate you anymore, but if you want me to like you, then you need to earn my trust. That is all."

He nodded, slowly. "So what now? Where do we go from here?"

The question caught her slightly off guard, and she canted her head slightly to eye him. "What do you mean, 'what now?'"

"You're here. You don't want to kill me. You've been reunited with Doc and Maria." He grinned. "So what now?"

"You said you were feeling better..." Maria added, peering up at her plaintively. "You're gonna stay...right?"

Piastol hesitated. "I...do not know yet. I'm not sure where I would go, but I do not feel as though I belong here, either. Becoming a pirate after all I have done would be as wrong as it would ironic."

Vyse shook his head. "You don't have to be a pirate to stay on my island. I'm not even asking you to join my crew. I just want to make sure you and your sister and Doc are happy no matter what you decide to do."

She gave no response to that, merely staring at him as she had the first time, utterly disbelieving. Feeling uncomfortable beneath her gaze, he shifted in his chair and looked away.

"What?"

"I don't understand. I tried to kill you. I hunted you and yours for years, cursed your name. Does that not bother you?" She frowned. "Still you show kindness. I find it hard to--"

He laughed. "You think I have other motives? You really are frustrating." So said, he stood and nudged the chair back into the corner with his foot. "Open your mind, that's all I ask. Watch us and decide for yourself if my kindness is sincere. You're free to stay here as long as you want, but everyone here on this island pulls their own weight, and I expect you to do the same. You're free to leave at any time if you don't like it, of course. Sound fair?"

She stared at him again. Maria looked back and forth between the two, partially confused and partially worried, but still Piastol did not move, did not speak. Shrugging, Vyse turned and began to head out the doorway.

"...Vyse," came her voice from behind him.

"Yeah?" he asked without turning.

"Can I really trust you?"

"Have we lied thus far?" he countered.

A momentary pause, then, "...thank you, Vyse."

"Heh." He grinned, but didn't allow her to see it. "You're welcome."

* * *

The next day was filled with its usual bustle as the crew gathered their belongings and hauled them once again from their homes to the _Delphinus_. The early morning sky was rosy and blanketed in wispy clouds, and already the air was growing warm beneath the unblinking eye of the Red Moon. Vyse watched from the catwalk as the final preparations on the ship were made, absently counting off supplies being loaded in the back of his head while gazing past the ship through the open port door behind it. Already he was thinking ahead to their journey beneath the clouds, and the longer he thought about it, the more his imagination blew it out of proportion. He'd heard the stories. But how much of them were true?

"It sure doesn't look any different," came Aika's voice, breaking him out of his daydreaming. He turned to see she'd come up beside him and was leaning over the railing, peering at the ship. "But I guess all the changes were done on the inside, huh?"

"Heh. You should have seen it when Brabham took the old engine out. Her hull was in pieces." He grinned.

"Not a bad feat of engineering, for a bunch of ruffians like us," Gilder said, appearing behind the two of them with a mildly amused expression. "Probably took us longer than it did Valua, though. We're definitely going to have to push it if we want to catch up."

Vyse nodded. "I've already decided we'll be sailing in shifts. I don't know if they've made it down there yet, but we don't really have time to find out."

"Well, it looks safe as far as I can tell," Fina said with a small smile, coming up on the other side of him."If they don't make it, I'm sure we can."

"So it's time to cast off, then?" came Enrique's voice. The four turned to find the prince and Moegi standing in the doorway behind them, a sobered expression on the former's face.

"Enrique!" Vyse exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

Enrique smiled. "I've had more than enough time to mourn. It's time for action now, so don't worry about me. I did wish to speak with you before we headed out, though."

"About what?" he asked.

The prince gave a moment's hesitation, casting his eyes to the ground. "...This will be my last voyage with you on board the _Delphinus_. After this, I will return to Valua."

"What?!" the others cried.

"But...but why?" Fina asked. "It's more dangerous now than ever, Enrique..."

"I know. I know." He closed his eyes. "But it's the right thing to do. My duty as prince is first and foremost to my people, and now that Galcian's betrayed us, they're all in danger. I must do what I can to warn my mother of the coming danger and prepare Valua for war. We have little choice..."

"Heh. Well said. On that note, I guess I'd better get outta here too and take care of some last-minute things." Gilder paused as he said such and spared a glance at Aika. "Don't worry, though, I'll be back. I think."

Vyse frowned lightly, watching Enrique with uncertainty. "You sure you wanna do this? What we've been doing is a heck of a lot different than all-out war."

"Is it, though? What was Yafutoma? Esparanza? Ixa'Taka? I think you – we – have been fighting a war all this time. We just haven't come to terms with it yet." Enrique smiled kindly. "I'm not worried about dying, if that's what you mean. I'll fight, and whatever happens, happens. It will take the sky falling to stop me now."

Aika beamed. "That's the dependable Enrique we've been missing!"

"Well, if you're that determined, I'm certainly not going to stop you." Vyse grinned. "C'mon, then. The sooner we get Fina's ship, the sooner we can get you back to Valua."

Enrique smiled. "Thank you for understanding, Vyse. It's very important to me." He paused then, looking over to a rather depressed looking Moegi. "Just...allow me a few minutes to say goodbye."

Vyse nodded and motioned for the others to follow, allowing the two royals their privacy. Even from the bridge, though, he could tell it was a tearful goodbye, and as they parted with a kiss, the rogue felt his heart sink in his chest. His situation was hardly different from Enrique's, and he dreaded the inevitable goodbye that was gradually looming closer. In many ways, actually, he envied the prince. When all was said and done, Enrique could return to Crescent Isle for Moegi – but once Fina was gone, Vyse doubted he would ever see her again.

"Hey. Cheer up. We're not there yet." He jumped as Gilder elbowed him, an uncharacteristic no-nonsense expression on the older rogue's face. "We don't know how this is going to end, so no use worrying about it now. Besides, if the Silvites really are that benevolent, don't you think they'd at least do us a favor after all the trouble we've gone through helping them?"

"How'd you know I was thinking--"

Gilder only grinned. "Many a woman has occupied my thoughts over the years, and it only gets worse as the days go by. You act just as distracted as I do when a special someone's on my mind." So said, he reached into his duster and produced Daccat's coin, which he then pressed into Vyse's palm. "Here, take this for good luck. You'll need it more than I will, I think, and that's saying something considering I've got Clara on my tail."

"Heh. Thanks, Gilder." Vyse forced a smile.

Gilder gave a mock salute, then turned and headed for the door. "Seeya soon, kiddo. And don't have too much fun without me."

* * *

In terms of speed, Vyse had never pushed the _Delphinus_ so hard before. And in terms of work, he'd never pushed his crew so hard either. All day and all night, the two of them chugged along as hard as they could, the moons rising and falling in the great ship's wake. But neither the _Delphinus_ nor her crew complained, instead working as diligently as ever. Vyse wasn't sure how to express it, but he was ever grateful for the dedication of both.

It wasn't something he was likely to repeat. Even though the normally two-week journey flew by in half the time, it showed its wear on the crew, and he knew it was only a matter of time before it showed on the ship as well. With a great unknown looming on the horizon – or rather, below it – he'd need everything in the best shape it could be. And so it was that on the final day, they anchored the ship near Pirate Isle and rested with the Blue Storm. His crew got out and stretched their legs, relaxed and spent their money at the underground tavern; his Father's crew gathered to listen to Vyse's stories and to explore the ship they'd heard so much about but never seen. Dyne could not believe his son was going to attempt to dive beneath the clouds, and the very thought nearly made Vyse's mother sick with worry. Vyse was glad that, at the very least, some things never changed.

But that night he couldn't sleep again, finding himself staring up at the Silver Moon as the wind howled outside. His dreams had been fitful at best, wrought with images of ghosts and ghouls and entire haunted shipwrecks rising up out of the clouds to consume the _Delphinus_. This was different than exploring ruins and passing through sky rifts; as big a dreamer as he was, he'd never dreamt of going _under_ the clouds. After all, the clouds consumed all things dead one way or another, and no sailor ever aspired to sail into Hell.

Morning came all too soon, the sun's light bleeding anemically through the window, falling onto his face and forcing him out of bed. Restless and frustrated, he threw on his clothes and roused his crew, sending them to the _Delphinus_ without breakfast. After a long goodbye to his parents, he too boarded the ship and cast off again, allowing the _Delphinus_ to gradually sink into Lower Sky. And it was there they found the Vortex, just as before, waiting patiently to swallow their ship as the strange, carnivorous plants in Ixa'Taka might wait to swallow a fly. Aika, superstitious as ever, left to go hide in her room.

It wasn't like the Dark Rift. The closer they drew to the eye, the calmer the winds became. The swirling of the clouds, smooth, rippled, as if waves frozen on the water, was as mesmerizing as it was disorienting. Vyse could no longer tell what direction he was facing, nor would the compass oblige; the needle ever pointed south.

Eventually, he simply let go of the wheel and let the air currents draw them in. The_ Delphinus_ caught herself on a downdraft and began to lazily spin along with the clouds, slowly, ever so slowly sinking down towards their darkened core.When at last they were hovering over the abyss, they found it so massive that it consumed the horizon on all sides. The clouds abruptly dropped into blackness like a waterfall cascading clear off an island, leaving nothing but black mist beneath the ship, and thin tendrils of it occasionally coiled up to brush against the hull, rising and falling hypnotically. Staring down was like gazing into infinity, and it only added to his unease. Drawing in one final deep breath, he switched on the submergence engine and the _Delphinus_ sank.

The gates of the Underworld closed around them.

It was with a helpless feeling that the three of them watched as what little light was left above quickly faded away. The ship's lights did nothing to pierce the choking veil of clouds around them, which continued to lazily spiral downwards forever, far beyond their sight. The sounds of the wind quickly faded away, replaced by the _Delphinus_' low groans of protest as she tried to adjust to the immense pressure being forced upon her. Quietly, Fina flipped a switch and the metallic shutters Brabham had installed over the windows lowered, and the lights above flickered out.

The three stood in pitch blackness for a few heartbeats, leaving Vyse wondering, if only for a moment, if they had died. Then the radar came back to life, filling the room with an unnatural green ambiance and emitting a low, dull hum as it worked. Fina shuffled over to it and squinted down at the screen, trying to get her eyes to re-adjust to what little light there was. Nobody spoke.

"...Are we still descending?" Vyse finally asked.

"According to the altimeter, yes," Enrique replied. "Although for how long is anyone's guess. At least going back up will be faster. Supposedly."

"Nothing's showing up on the radar," Fina said. "I think we have a very long way to go."

And so they waited, Enrique tensely staring at the altimeter and Fina's eyes glued to the radar. The minutes crawled by until Vyse lost count and the altimeter stopped working altogether, presumably as they went deeper than it could measure. After several minutes of trying to revive it, Enrique shook his head and slumped against the console in frustration, watching helplessly as more and more of the meters and gages at his station stopped working. After a while, he simply left and went to watch the radar instead.

Vyse felt equally as useless. There was no point in him standing at the helm when the ship was simply descending – or descending as far as he knew. For the first time ever, he left his post and flopped into the captain's chair, shifting restlessly as he tried to think of something he could do. And still nobody spoke, neither on the bridge nor down below the decks. Time itself seemed to have slowed to a crawl.

Then came something: a faint sound, a whisper, so low that at first he just ignored it. But again it came, louder and longer and more piteous this time, and the rogue lifted his head, straining to locate the source. As it came a third time, Fina and Enrique cringed and startled gasps chorused from below; it was a horrendous, bone-chilling wailing noise, like that of an anguished woman. Aika squealed in fright somewhere in the back of the ship.

"W-what is that?" Enrique asked, looking between his two friends uneasily. As both his and Vyse's eyes fell on Fina, the Silvite bowed her head and swallowed thickly.

"I-I don't know. I wish it would go away..."

"Ghosts!" came Aika's muffled cry.

The wail sounded again, echoing throughout the ship. Vyse ran over to the radio and directed it to the lower decks.

"Who is that?" he asked.

There was a long pause, before Hans responded: _"The ship's in one piece, Captain, and everyone down here is safe and sound, if not a little nervous. We don't know what it is."_

"Everyone's accounted for?"

"_Everyone, Captain Vyse. It's nobody down here."_

Vyse slowly hung the radio back up.

As more time passed, the wailing only grew louder, seeming to come from every direction at once. People below deck were growing restless, some going so far as to grate their nails on the metallic walls. No matter what they did, the raucous sound could not be dampened, could not be ignored. But when it seemed that they had finally hit their limit, their nerves and wits frayed, the strange wailing stopped just as suddenly as it had began, and it never returned.

Silence reigned once again. It almost was worse than the wailing.

Still more time passed, and more of the _Delphinus_' systems failed, unable to keep up with their unusual environment. Vyse wasn't sure if he imagined it or not, but as soon as the pressure gage went out, he could have sworn he began to feel heavier. As Enrique and Fina grew noticeably more sluggish, he realized that he wasn't imagining things: something _was_ making them heavier, and the _Delphinus_ fought to keep it from dragging her down helplessly into the blackness, occasionally buckling as her engine strained.

Before long, the trio found themselves slumped against the ground, leaning back against the consoles. Aika labored to return to the bridge, but only made it as far as the captain's chair before collapsing from exhaustion. In the distance, a faint roar could be heard, barely audible over the strained churning of the ship's engines. What it was, Vyse could not yet place.

"Oh man. This is rough," she said. "It's getting hard to even breathe. I feel like I weigh four hundred pounds. What's making me so weak?"

"We're not becoming weaker. I think gravity's becoming stronger," Enrique said. "The pressure down here is pretty intense."

"At least the ship is holding up." Vyse gave a small smile. "Could be worse, right?"

Aika returned the smile. "Right."

For Vyse, time began to speed up again, and this time the silence was broken by the noise gradually growing stronger in the distance. It steadily rose, from a faint murmur to an outrageous cacophony, until its booming din shook the skeleton of the ship. Outside, though they could not feel it, the wind whipped and howled about violently, sounding powerful enough to blow a whole island away. Lightning rent the air in flashes bright enough to slip through the cracks in the window shutters, quickly followed by booming thunder loud enough to make the furniture tremble. Looking uneasy, Fina braced herself against the console and pulled herself back up to the radar screen, and it was there her eyes went wide.

"Something huge is there in the clouds!" she gasped.

"Huh? You mean, something alive?" Vyse asked.

"No, it's not moving, but..." She furrowed her brow. "It's obviously not a part of the terrain, either. I don't know what it is, but we're going to come very close to hitting it."

"I don't understand. What in the world could be down here?" Aika asked.

"Anything," Enrique replied. "Anything that falls from the islands could wind up down here. Trees, ships...people..."

Aika grimaced.

Blinking, Vyse dragged himself up off the floor, only to nearly have his legs buckle beneath him and send him back over, on to his face. With a grunt, he steadied himself and then shuffled uneasily over to Fina, leaning over to stare at the radar. While the images on the screen were crude at best, there existed a huge cluster of dots that consumed the right hand side, dwarfing the tiny blip that represented the _Delphinus_. He was only too grateful that it wasn't moving.

"Look at that compared to us. Whatever it is, it's bigger than an island," he said, frowning. "I'm going to adjust our course, just in case."

The Silvite merely nodded, turning back to study the screen with a puzzled expression.

As the storm outside grew louder, the shape on the screen drew closer. Fina watched tensely as they became level with and then passed it, and Vyse had to resist the urge to open the windows and see exactly what it was. As the wind gave one last violent whip and then died away, Vyse could only guess that they had descended into a crevasse beneath the large object and that the object was now shielding them from the storm.

"From what I can tell, we're hovering about fifty feet above the ground now...whatever the ground is," Fina said. "My ship could be anywhere, but if it _is_ down here, it is likely buried under several feet of mud."

"Mud?" Aika echoed. "That's all that's down here? Is mud?"

"I don't know much about the Lower World at all," Fina replied, shaking her head. "All I know is that it is covered in thick layers of mud."

"Perfect for skeletons to crawl out of," Vyse said, with a wicked grin.

Aika shot him a look.

"Even with multiple layers of mud, the ship's cranes should be able to hook on to anything down here," Enrique noted. "Keep a close eye for anything irregular on the radar. That's the only way we'll find it."

"Alright, I'm going to set the ship in motion again," Vyse said, dragging himself back over to the wheel. It felt as heavy as iron in his hands, responding only begrudgingly to his turning. "Everyone back to your posts. Use whatever equipment's still working."

It took some encouragement to get the _Delphinus_ going again, the ship laboring beneath the pressure. She creaked and groaned in protest at times, and he could hear the engineers fussing about it below deck; where normally her flight was smooth and powerful, it felt as though she were currently chugging down a river of glue. Occasionally the wind would leap out from behind the giant whatever-it-was and buffet the poor ship about, throwing her leagues off course and knocking them to the ground each time. Progress was, as far as he was concerned, abysmal.

The girls were glued to the radar the entire time, Fina continuously making adjustments to it, and Aika attempting to describe the terrain to Vyse so that he didn't hit anything. As far as they could tell, it was very uneven and possibly shifting even as they flew right over it. She noted mountains that dwarfed Valua's randomly spiking from the ground, and valleys that looked deep enough to cradle several Gigas. Yet no matter how far they sailed, they always seemed to be in the green-dotted shadow of the monolith in the distance, which dominated the tiny screen. Enrique began to speculate that it was round, or possibly in several pieces.

At times, Fina caught fleeting glimpses of movement on the radar, dots that flickered into existence and then vanished so quickly, she at first didn't believe that they were even there. Aika's panic level began to rise again as the dot sightings became more numerous and more frequent. Whatever they were, they were the size of a small ship and moving about below them.

"Ghost ships, do you think?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Perhaps there's something alive down here?" Enrique offered with a kind smile.

"No way!" Aika shook her head firmly. "Look at all the trouble we had to go through just to survive down here. There's no _way_ anything could live in a place like this."

The prince was thoughtful. "If you say so..."

"Argh...navigating like this is hard." Vyse frowned, glancing back to the two girls. "You sure I can't open a window to see where we're going? Didn't Brabham add more glass or something?"

"DeLoco covered up all his windows. Or most of them anyway." Aika shrugged. "All I remember is Brabham saying that if something the size of a grape hit us down here, we'd 'collapse like an old tin can'. I can't blame him for being cautious."

"He might have been over exaggerating a bit, but it's true that we don't have much room for strain on the ship," Enrique said. "Nevertheless, I did have the builders install thicker windows – since we seem to have a knack for breaking them."

Aika blinked, then laughed. "Are you serious?"

"So we don't need the shutters?" Vyse asked.

"Oh, we still do. But I think you must have overlooked how they work." Enrique gestured to the windows, so close and yet so far from him now. "Have a closer inspection, if you can make it. We weren't meant to fly blind."

Blinking, Vyse turned to stare at the shutters behind him. Bracing himself against the console, he trudged his way around and approached one of the metallic barriers, finding a porthole-sized circle in the center of the panel. Cautiously, he reached up and touched it, realizing that it slid away to allow a small circular pane of glass to be safely exposed. As he did so, the lightning above flashed again, illuminating the monolith perched precariously above them. For a fleeting moment, Vyse caught a glimpse of an enormous tower-like object thrusting into the clouds, and then – nothing.

The rogue continued to stare in awe at the world around them. The sky above was total chaos, a tangled web of thrashing clouds, torrential rain and threads of lightning cut off abruptly by a colossal slab of earth above them. The ground below was slick and covered in mud, which bubbled and roiled like a thick stew at times. The terrain was just as uneven as Aika had described, with battered, emaciated mountains thrusting their ragged spires into the sky and sudden pits where it looked like entire chunks of earth had been ripped out of the ground. It was a world that was only visible in the brief flashes of lightning that came from above, seemingly fading in and out of reality just like a dream.

Stunned, Vyse labored to open the other two portals Brabham had provided for them, allowing his companions a glimpse at the underworld they were exploring. A flicker of movement caught their eye, and they watched, astounded, as an enormous fish rose up from the mud, trailing silt behind it, and vanished into the inky darkness mere seconds later like a phantom. Again the lightning flashed, silhouetting the tower once more and bedazzling them with a million lines of silver. Vyse couldn't tell if it was the lightning or the tower itself that made the unusual glow.

"Oh wow. This is..." Aika shook her head, at a loss for words. "It's frightening. But it's amazing, too. This isn't the Underworld, it's..."

"Whatever's sank down here has probably long since been destroyed by the pressure and the storms. We won't be finding shipwrecks here." Enrique shook his head. "And yet some things survive, like those fish. I can't even begin to make sense of it."

"Now this is much more like it." Vyse beamed. "I can't believe I was worried! This is great!"

"Those fish must have been the vanishing spots on the radar. It all makes more sense now," Fina said, thoughtfully. "Though I still can't figure out what's up there above...oh!"

Vyse blinked. "Hm? What is it?"

"We're coming up on something in the ground. It's moving very slowly...I-I think it's being carried along in the mud. It's solid though, so it can't be a fish..."

"Do you think that's it?" Enrique asked.

Fina stared at him for a moment, then smiled a little. "There's a very small chance..."

"Well, let's find out," Aika replied, moving over to a different portion of the console and fiddling with a few switches. "Vyse, let them know below deck that we're going to be using the crane."

"Uhm..." Fina began.

"What's wrong?" Vyse asked, pausing as he reached for the radio.

"I-I see a lot of dots now; they're all kind of clustered together. Actually, it looks like--" She trailed off, her eyes wandering over to the window and gazing out of it in disbelief.

Below them, glimmering in the florescent white light of each flash of lightning, where hundreds – perhaps even thousands of sleek silver metallic objects, half-buried in the mud and tangled up against a natural rock formation jutting from the ground. They looked as though they had been there for an age, yet each bore no rust and no wear. Every time the light passed over them, they seemed to take on the substance of liquid metal, and faint archaic runes ran fleetingly across them, just below the surface. Though their shapes could not entirely be distinguished through the mud, they were clearly not natural; even staring at them, Vyse could tell they were partially magic.

"What...are those?" he asked.

"Those...those are Silvite ships. All of them," Fina said, eyes wide. "I know our vessels can survive down here, but I never expected...I mean, it's been centuries..."

"Huh? All of those are Silvite ships?" Aika blinked. "Then what are they doing down here?"

"I don't know. They may have all sank defending our homeland in the old war, after their pilots died." She sighed. "This is so strange. I studied so hard before I left, and yet...I seem to be running out of answers as of late. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I'm just a little surprised is all." Aika squinted out the window, frowning thoughtfully. "They're made out of the same metal as Yeligar's seal, right? No wonder they look to be in perfect shape. Does this mean we just take our pick?"

Fina blinked. "I never thought of that. Yes, I suppose we'd be down here forever if we tried to find mine specifically. If we pick up a small one, that should be enough."

Aika grinned, nodded, and turned back to the console.

Enrique frowned. "That still doesn't eliminate the other problem of DeLoco possibly finding these, however. It looks like we'll be taking a loss as well."

"We'll have to rely on time, then," Vyse replied. "If we can get this back up and get it working, then Fina can warn the Silvites about what's going on when she gets home, and they will be prepared to deal with the Armada if they try to follow her."

"Honestly, Vyse, I'm more worried about the Armada using the technology they find against us than I am the Silvites." Enrique patted the floor, to indicate the _Delphinus_. "This is what DeLoco did merely by studying the Gigas. Imagine what he can do with technology he can actually take apart and look at?"

Vyse smirked. "Then the next step we should take is to get rid of that guy."

Enrique gave a small smile. "Provided he is not hidden behind Galcian, I am certainly for that."

A sudden loud clang below deck caught their attention, and for a moment they started until Aika waved a hand.

"Don't worry, it's just the crane," she said. "I've hooked on to something and brought it in. Let's see if I fished up something useful..."

After a few moments, Brabham's voice came over the radio: "_If this is a ship, ye'll have to do better than that. Only got half, girl!"_

"Pff! It'd be easier if I could see what I was doing..." Aika shook her head and went back to the controls.

Smirking at his friend, Vyse found himself looking back out the window a moment later, absently staring into the blackness. He studied the graveyard below, following the ships as they formed sort of a haphazard path into the distance. None of them seemed to have any damage, from gunfire, magic, or otherwise, but it was hard to tell for sure with the ground constantly shifting over them. The mud consumed everything just as the dunes in Nasr did – only much, much faster.

Lightning struck again in the distance, briefly illuminating the area with a blinding spark. In its wake it left a small trail of red lights, which flashed dully in the darkness and then lingered, neither rising nor falling. Piqued, the rogue reached for his goggles when there came another chorus of rattling and clanging from below, distracting him. He turned just as Brabham returned to the radio.

"_There ye go! It's a real little ship, but it appears to be in one piece from what I can tell. Matches Fina's description anyway."_

"How's it look?" Aika asked.

"_It's a mess, but methinks it's in one piece. I'll clean it off and take a look at it once I can move better. Ooh...this place makes my bones ache."_

"See? That wasn't so bad." Aika looked up to Fina and smiled. "We're probably lucky finding this place, but at least you can get home now!"

Fina returned the smile, though it looked forced. "Yes...thank you..."

An awkward silence fell over the four of them. Vyse gazed at the Silvite soberly, then turned to look out the window again before anyone could see his expression.

But something had changed. Outside, the strange group of floating red lights had drawn closer. Now they faintly outlined a dark, bulky shape, one that moved without the grace of the silt-fish below. Though he tried to zoom in, he could not tell what the object was in the darkness; noting his expression, Fina looked down at the radar and blinked.

"It's a...ship?"

Aika boggled. "A Silvite ship?"

"No, I think it's a Valuan ship..." Fina said after a moment.

"We're too late, then." Enrique frowned, then paused. "But the only ship they were outfitting was..."

"...the _Chameleon,_" Vyse finished for him.

The lights continued to float straight towards them, and the object began to take on a familiar cylindrical shape. Suddenly, the radio jumped to life with a painfully loud crackling noise, and a distorted, high-pitched voice crowed at them brokenly over the speakers.

"_Vyse, Vyse, Vyse! I knew...show up...here! Lower Sky...you...investigate...my ship! It's time to die!"_

"Moons, he sounds terrible..." Aika murmured, cringing as the static momentarily became ear-piercing.

"It looks like you beat us down here, DeLoco. I'll give you credit for that," Vyse replied. "What better place for you and Galcian, really, than a giant mudhole like this?"

"_Perhaps...you...find? You can't have really...all this way...without knowing?"_

Vyse blinked, turning to look back at his companions. "I have no clue what he's talking about. He keeps cutting out."

Enrique shook his head. "Don't look at me."

"Without knowing what?" Vyse demanded. "Perhaps you'd like to explain why you're down here."

The ship drew closer. It was most certainly the _Chameleon, _and on its bow hung a harpoon cannon.

"_I'm not here...sightsee, Vyse. I'm not...to scavenge ships, either. We need..._Chameleon_ to open a tomb and...too late! But first...bury you in it!"_

"'Open a tomb?'" Fina blinked.

Vyse shook his head. "Forget it. We can't understand him, and he's not making much sense to begin with. But now's our chance--"

"Hold! Don't just go rushing in." Enrique stared at him pointedly. "A ship fight down here might crush the both of us if we go about things as normal – especially since he has a harpoon cannon. Those were designed to puncture stone reefs. Imagine what it could to to the _Delphinus_ when she's under so much pressure already."

"But if we hang back too far, we'll never be able to see clearly enough to get a shot in, even with the moonstone cannon," Vyse protested.

The prince nodded. "I know. That's why it's going to take some careful maneuvering. It's absolutely imperative that we get behind him. Anywhere else and we're risking getting shot – which will be disastrous."

"But he'll be trying to do the same," Aika noted.

"He can try all he wants. We won't let him." Vyse turned then, and took up the wheel in his hands. "It's time to rid the world of that psycho!"

"_Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!" _sang the voice over the radio.

Another flash of lightning outside briefly illuminated the scene, and Vyse realized that DeLoco had already gotten uncomfortably close. Turning the ship as hard as he could, he knew, with a sinking feeling, that the _Delphinus_' broadside was still widely exposed, and cringed when he heard the sound of gunfire. But the collision he expected never came, and when he opened his eyes again, he found that he had safely turned away. The _Chameleon_ had passed them and was headed in the opposite direction.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The shells never hit. It appears they can't go far at all with the gravity down here," Enrique replied. "That's good news for us, but it also means our shells won't hit, either."

"Grh..."

"He's turning. He's moving pretty fast, too," Aika noted, leaning over the radar. "Maybe it's because he's in a smaller ship, but I think he's having an easier time than we are down here."

"He's had more time to perfect travel down here. We've only – aah!"

Vyse was cut short as the ship suddenly lurched and they were all thrown to the side. The _Delphinus_ groaned in protest as the wind picked her up and threw her several yards away, sending her cargo and crew crashing about noisily below. Beside them, the smaller, lighter _Chameleon_ flew off even farther, spiraling wildly out of control.

Vyse struggled to drag himself back to the helm, but the force of the _Delphinus_ pitch and the heavy gravity made it next to impossible. The ship continued to slide away for several feet until the wind died down again and she was able to steady herself on her own power. After a few unsuccessful swipes at the wheel, Vyse grabbed on to it and hefted himself up. The _Chameleon_ was nowhere in sight.

"Aika, Fina, where is he?" he asked.

"Behind. No, wait…ahead?" Aika blinked. "Everything's flickering in and out again."

The wind howled. He felt the _Delphinus_ slide beneath him again.

"There!" Fina cried. "He's beneath us!"

"Hard to starboard! Hurry!" Aika added.

Not even bothering to try and find DeLoco through the windows, Vyse fought with the wheel and forced the sluggish _Delphinus_ to turn. She took her time in doing so, however, and he struggled to keep the wheel in its position. After a wide swing, he straightened her out again, but the _Chameleon _was already gone.

"Behind us!" Aika warned.

Hissing through his teeth, Vyse tried to bring the ship up. Behind him, he heard Enrique struggling with the altimeter levers as he tried to throw additional power behind the ship's lift, but they gave only precious inches. Abruptly, one gave beneath him and the _Delphinus_' bow lurched skywards, bearing the ship towards the churning thunderclouds high above and sending them sliding to the back of the cabin. Beneath them, the _Chameleon_'s harpoon cannon flew by with a dull _whoosh_ as DeLoco once again vanished from sight.

"His luck sure has turned around…" Enrique grunted, slowly peeling himself off the wall.

"I don't like being out here. We're going to get thrown farther and farther off course," Vyse said, slowly crawling back to his feet. "We need to get back under the shelter of that mountain-tower-thing."

Aika shook her head. "We can try making a run for it, but he's faster down here…"

Vyse opened his mouth to reply, but decided to drop it as he saw a dark shape rise up beside them out of the corner of his eye. Quickly, he turned back to the wheel and spun it hard, forcing the _Delphinus_ away from her assailant. She jerked roughly to the side and drifted away just as DeLoco attempted firing again.

The four watched, tensely, as gunpowder lit up the side of both ships with a dull orange glow. From the blossoms of smoke and flame came the shells, a frighteningly fast glint one second, and then suspended in midair the next, as if frozen in time. Then they fell, plummeting towards the earth as though they weighed a million pounds, and leaving Vyse somewhat glad that he hadn't been confident enough to attempt firing back. DeLoco reeled over the radio and tried to get behind them again, but by that time Vyse had already outclimbed him.

The silver ships and churning mud beneath them were quickly swallowed by a black void as they rose back towards the clouds. The sky roared to life overhead, silhouetting the lip of the landmass above them, and hurtling bolts of lightning into the infinite darkness below. In that brief flash of light, it felt as though they, too, were suspended in time, for nothing seemed to move or change – nothing, that was, except for the silver blur that shot past the deck, reached its apex, fell, and grappled onto the side of the ship, nearly dragging it onto its side.

"Ahh!" Aika cried.

"What is that?" Fina asked.

"He's hooked on to us!" Enrique exclaimed. "The harpoon cannon's acting as a grappling hook!"

Vyse squinted through the window. He could barely see the barbed shape of the harpoon through the darkness, hooked onto the deck like the talon of an enormous bird.

"I can't tell if he's caused any damage. Aika, get somebody over there to assess the damage and reinforce the deck if need be."

"Aye aye," she replied.

The ship wrenched slightly as the _Chameleon_ tried to pull its weapon in from below. Wincing, Vyse eased the _Delphinus _into a stop and then sent her sinking again, but the damage had already been done. His heart skipped a beat as he heard a low groan and then a brief metallic crunch, followed by dozens of voices shouting below.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"The deck's caving in beneath the harpoon!" Aika said, eyes wide. "They're trying to support it, but he's pulling us down on purpose! He's trying to rip us apart!"

"Dammit! We've got to pry that thing off our ship!" Vyse cringed as he heard the deck give a little more, trying to turn the _Delphinus_ into the tugging of the harpoon. "Do you think we can get enough crewmembers outside?"

"Vyse, you'd die if you went out there," Fina said, mortified. "Y-you can't breathe, you can barely move…"

"What about the cannons, then?" he asked. "Can we shoot it off safely?"

Enrique shook his head. "Assuming we can hit it, that's likely to tear a hole in the deck."

"Vyse! We can't keep this up!" Aika called, a panicked note in her voice. "Brabham says it could give any second!"

The _Delphinus_ trembled and groaned beneath them, as if in pain, but Vyse could tilt her no farther without threatening to capsize the entire ship. Up above, the heavens roared to life again with a furious display of thunder and lightning, lancing the earth in the distance with showers of silver sparks. A bellowing wind swept down from around the landmass above and once more took hold of both the ships, pitching them wildly off course. The _Delphinus_ lurched, rolled, and then pulled herself free of the harpoon, helplessly riding the wind currents as they pulled her out from beneath her rocky shelter.

All of the sudden, the world exploded into chaos. The wind buffeted them from all directions, rolling and pitching the ship at dangerous angles. Lightning flashed all around them, forming a cage of white hot light around the _Delphinus _and threatening to strike her down. A viscous liquid, reddish-brown in color, poured down in a dense mist from above, battering the deck and making hissing sounds as it fell. And all the while, the _Delphinus'_ wound gave a little more, despite her crew's best effort to staunch it. The entire ship sounded ready to fall apart.

Aika shouted something at him, but Vyse couldn't hear her over the cacophonous roar of the wind. All sense had been cut off: he could not hear, for the storm was deafening; he could not see, for the grimy rain formed a dank film over the windows; and he could not feel, for his whole body felt like lead. For a moment, all he wanted to do was scream in frustration and kick the console, even as he knew the ship swiftly drifted further and further from the eye of the storm, from their only escape.

But Vyse forced a calm upon himself and threw his body against the wheel instead, straining to turn the _Delphinus _into the wind. And just as the captain labored, so too did his ship, all but coming to a dead stop as she tried to power her way through the unforgiving currents. She wobbled unsteadily and it was all he could do to keep pushing forward, but he couldn't even tell if they were moving or not. It felt like, once again, they were in limbo.

Something gave below deck. He felt it rather than heard it crumble, but it made him jump nevertheless. It was quickly followed by a brief pop and then nothing, but the ship somehow remained in one piece. For how long was anyone's guess.

And then, the clouds above suddenly shifted, and the wind reversed. With a piercing wail, the air currents once again picked up the _Delphinus_ and threw her aside, and she spiraled out of control, sending everyone crashing against the opposite wall. Vyse hit the ground, dizzy and exhausted, and it took him a time to realize that the wind had quieted and the rain was gone. When next he looked up, all he could see was darkness out the windows; the winds had tossed them right back under the sheltering lip of the titanic rocky overhang, right from where they had been torn before.

"_...ing. She's giving! We need to get out of here right this very second!"_ came Brabham's faint and staticy voice over the radio. Aika peeled herself off the ground and fumbled for the receiver, falling short each time.

"What's he saying?" Vyse grunted, crawling back to the helm tiredly. "Where's DeLoco?"

"He says the pressure's slowly crushing the ship. Pipes are bursting below and rivets are popping out and hitting people," she replied after a moment. "Vyse, if we don't leave now, the _Delphinus _will fall apart."

"I-I can't find DeLoco," Fina added. "The storm damaged the radar. Nothing's showing up anymore."

Enrique sighed. "All but the most basic functions are down, Vyse. We may as well fly with our eyes closed. We've got what we came for; it's time to make our escape."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Vyse replied, gingerly easing the _Delphinus _skyward. She sluggishly pointed her nose upwards, and he saw, high above the great slab of earth, the clouds calmly and hypnotically swirling together, spiraling on into eternity. Compared to everything else in the Underworld, the Vortex looked inviting.

The bridge was silent as they rose, slowly climbing back into the sky. The engine sounded strained, however, and weak; it, too, had likely been damaged when he'd tried to power his way out of the storm. Every once in a while it would make a loud rattling noise and briefly stall, causing his heart to skip a few beats before it started up again and they pushed onwards.

The entire ship would not stop shivering. He could see the deck giving more outside, could hear it groaning piteously below alongside a chorus of human voices. The rogue's heart pounded in his chest, and he silently willed the _Delphinus_ forward. If she failed now, he'd have no chance of recovering her. It frightened him, but he refused to believe that the worst could happen.

Finally, they came to the edge of the enormous slab of earth. He eyed it warily as he carefully maneuvered the ship around it, sliding alongside it with mere feet to spare. The mantle alone was impossibly thick, and it took them several minutes to pass it. But then the dark earth gave way to unnatural pale stone – or was it metal? He couldn't tell -- which glimmered in the faint light of the passing ship, and he couldn't help but to stare at it in confusion. It was too smooth to be natural, and yet he'd never seen anything like it ever created. Nothing from the surface could have survived down where they were...

They rose above the lip, and the silhouette of the tower far in the distance dominated the tiny window he was looking out of. It was too dark to see what everything below them was, however, and the tower itself sat beyond the eye, swathed in furious storm clouds that he did not dare approach again. But then, something rose from a trench below. Vyse blinked, and scowled when he realized it was the flashing red lights of the _Chameleon, _listing to one side and trailing oil in its wake like a slimy black rain.

"Dammit..."

Enrique glanced outside, and grimaced. "Try to evade him. I'll attempt to get the systems back online." And with that, he trudged off the bridge and down below deck.

Vyse glanced around, silently cursing their lack of options. They were confined to the shaft of the Vortex rising high above them, and if they strayed too far, the storm would suck them in and they would never be able to make their way back out. Frowning to himself, he flipped a few switches on the helm and diverted all power remaining in the ship to the hover engines; the _Delphinus_ hastened her climb, but it was difficult to tell her progress through the tiny windows.

"Is he still beneath us?" he asked.

"Yes," Fina replied, studying the radar. "And closing in fast."

"He's going to line up another shot with that harpoon, I just know it," Aika said.

The _Delphinus_ buckled a bit beneath them, made a chugging noise, and then resumed her climb.

"But the guns are down..." Vyse frowned to himself, until an idea suddenly struck him. "Wait...what all is down in the hold?"

"What?" Aika asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Are the gunpowder barrels within range of the cranes?" He turned to look at her, eyes bright.

"I can ask Khazim, but I still don't know what that has to do with anything," she replied.

Vyse grinned. "What if we dropped the barrels down at the _Chameleon_? Normally they wouldn't do much damage, but with as much pressure as we're under down here..."

She laughed, delightedly. "Vyse! That's genius!"

After a few minutes of speaking with Brabham over the radio, they were able to get him to spare a few crewmembers to go down into the cargo hold and begin manually operating the cranes. Vyse and Aika moved down to help them as Fina cared for the bridge, but they stumbled and trudged down the steps as if wading through mud, still hindered by the immense gravity. Down below it was pitch dark, and the three who had joined them, Kirala, Marco, and Tika Tika, lit their way only by the tiny glows flickering in the moonstone lanterns they held. Their light did little to illuminate the vastness of the hold, standing out only as miniature beacons where each crane rested.

"What's the plan, Vyse?" Marco called from nearby.

"Easy stuff!" Vyse replied. "We're going to open the doors to the cargo bay again and drop the gunpowder barrels down on the _Chameleon_ below. This is the only part of the ship we can afford to open up to the pressure outside, since Brabham reinforced it to grab Fina's ship."

"But out-side...kill?" Tika Tika looked confused, bringing one hand to his throat to indicate a strangling motion. "Too hot, Queyta says. No air."

"That's why I'm here!" Aika said, matter-of-factly. "I can shield us from the elements, but just for a little bit. So we'll need to work fast."

The three nodded. While they still didn't seem to completely understand, it was clear they trusted Vyse and Aika and weren't about to argue.

The five scattered, cutting the ropes and cargo nets that held down the gunpowder and moonstone powder barrels, and rolling them out individually to the waiting cranes. Pushing each was like moving a boulder, yet still Marco made a game out of it, racing Vyse over and back. They'd only managed to get three or four barrels to each crane before they were all exhausted, and they gathered around one of them as Aika perched atop it and focused on the energies of all the individual moonstones hooked on to her keychain. After a moment, she pushed her hands forward and expelled the gathered magic, and Vyse felt the unusual prickly tingling sensation from several months ago in the Temple of Pyrynn race throughout his body. A shimmering veil of every color imaginable formed a small bubble around the crane, far more potent and visible than the last time he had ever seen her using Delta Shield. Her studies with Fina were clearly paying off.

"Alright, I got it!" she exclaimed. "Let's go!"

Vyse nodded and grabbed a chain dangling nearby, passing it back to the others behind him. As one, they began to pull on it, manually dragging open the cargo hold doors. A blast of air burst in from below, causing the shield to momentarily flare up, but then it shivered and dissipated, leaving a foul, acrid scent in its wake. Down below, they could see the churning black clouds and the even blacker void beneath them, as well as the red lights of the _Chameleon_ unstably tottering back and forth. It had clearly been damaged somehow in the storm, but Vyse couldn't tell where it was wounded.

A flash of lightning briefly illuminated the clouds, turning them into dirty shadows cast against the whitest light. Vyse could see the silhouette of the _Chameleon _and turned to pull the crane around, cranking it into place and aligning it in roughly the same direction as the u-boat. The others hooked a barrel on to it, carefully pushing it into place and holding it still as the _Delphinus_ hiccuped once more beneath them. Vyse waited until the ship was stable again, before signaling to his crew.

"Ready...now!"

Together, the three swung the barrel forward and he released the hook on the crane, casting the gunpowder out the side of the hull. They watched it spin and then plummet into the blackness, but nothing happened.

"A miss?" Aika called over the howling winds.

"Probably. I can't see where they're falling," he called back.

"How's your magic?" she shouted.

"My what?"

"Your magic! Do you still remember what your mom taught you? Can you make fire?"

"...Kinda," he replied.

"Then blow the next one up as it falls!"

"What? Why don't you do that?" he asked.

"I can't do anything else while I maintain the shield!" she replied. "Just give it a try."

He recalled the trouble he'd had attempting to light a fire while stranded on Crescent Isle, and frowned. Down below, however, he could see the lights of the _Chameleon_ drawing nearer, and knew he didn't have much time to argue. Gesturing to the others, he had them load up another barrel and move the crane as he reached into his pocket and fingered his red moonstone.

_Just this once..._ he thought. _Just long enough to get us out of here alive..._

He drew in a deep breath. "Moons..."

The crane released, casting the gunpowder barrel out into the clouds.

"...give me strength!"

He felt the glare of the Red Moon in the back of his mind, so distant now, so dull beneath the clouds. But it still coursed throughout his body, and he willed it through to his fingertips. There was a spark, and then a pop, and then a flame sprang to life, and he jumped before hastily expelling it down after the barrel. His eyes widened in amazement at the fireball he had created; it found the gunpowder and the entire thing detonated as it hit, creating an explosion of fire and light that pierced the blackness below and a shockwave that visibly shook the _Chameleon's_ bones. The u-boat swayed unsteadily before stabilizing itself and redoubling its climb.

"Ahah! So close!" Aika cried. "More! Send more barrels after him! He can't dodge everything we've got!"

Vyse and the others hastened to reload the crane with the remaining barrels and move it back out the cargo hold door. As they dropped, Vyse fumbled to connect himself to the Red Moon again and turn its power into fire, but too many had fallen too far by the time he was able to form another fireball, and DeLoco managed to shoot the last down before it could come close enough to him. The shockwave caused the _Delphinus_ to jump and the five of them cringed as her engine stalled again for a few long heartbeats.

_If he could shoot it, that means the pressure's weakening._ Vyse glanced up to the ceiling, as if he could see the sky through it. _I don't think the _Delphinus_ has much fight in her right now, though._

Calling over the wind, he ordered everyone to move to the next crane. Aika hopped down from her perch and moved with them in order to maintain the shield, and that was when there came a loud hiss from below, followed by the deafening crunch of metal nearby. Vyse watched in horror as the side of the ship and part of the ceiling a short distance away caved in, and a metalic claw punched through the metal, peeling it away as though it was merely paper. The _Delphinus_ bucked and then listed sharply to port, and they scrambled for the crane to hold on to as the deck slid out from beneath them. Below, through the doorway, Vyse saw a thick chain rising from the clouds and his eyes widened. DeLoco had latched on to them again and they were now towing him along as he slowly reeled himself in closer. The _Delphinus, _weighted down by her passenger, stalled in her climb.

"No!" Aika cried.

Vyse grit his teeth, then held his breath and ran outside the shield towards the cargo net still holding down the remaining barrels. The air felt hot but no warmer than the Nasrean sun, and his body felt lighter and more responsive. Downdrafts of cooler air blowing in through the open door hinted that they were nearing the tops of the clouds again before the _Delphinus_ had been caught, and he could only pray to the Moons that that was so.

Hastily, Vyse climbed the pile of barrels and drew a cutlass, furiously hacking away at the ropes that tethered them down. He was nearly dislodged as DeLoco fired upon them, and landed several hits into the _Delphinus_' weakened broadside. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the ship to collapse upon them, but nothing came; they were high enough to be safe from the pressure at last.

His heart began to beat faster and his lungs strained in protest over the lack of air. Vyse scrambled to cut away more of the tethers, and with sharp cracks the remaining ropes broke off as the strain of the heavy barrels against the unnatural tilt of the ship overcame them. The gunpowder began to bounce and roll away towards the open cargo door, spilling out into the clouds below. Recklessly, he leapt over one of them and then collapsed back into the safety of the Delta Shield, gasping for breath.

"Vyse!" Aika cried.

"No...time!" he panted, fumbling for his keychain. "Moons..."

He numbly felt for the Red Moon, and though its presence felt a little stronger, he found himself too winded to properly focus on it. The rogue shook his head and tried again, pulling the heat from its crimson stare into his body, trying to force it into physical form. A spark came, and fizzled. A flame sprang to life, and died. He furrowed his brow and concentrated until it gave him a headache.

"Moons...give me strength!"

Finally, fire sprang to life in his hands and he cast it out after the barrels, into the darkness below. The _Chameleon_ was close enough that he could see its faint outline against the swirling clouds, and watched as it trained its guns onto the _Delphinus_ again. But suddenly, there came a flash. The Red Magic collided with one of the barrels and it detonated, setting off a chain reaction that ignited all the other barrels falling with it. It sounded as though the entire Armada was warring in the sky just beneath them, and the chorus of explosions violently rocked the _Delphinus _and threw her to the side. The harpoon cannon's chain snapped, and fire broke out on the _Chameleon_ as it suddenly floundered and plummeted back into the darkness below. The five of them watched with wide eyes as the u-boat's unusual shape swiftly vanished, but several seconds later, there came a brilliant explosion from far beneath them, an enormous blossom of angry fire that lit up the clouds and silhouetted a shower of falling debris before it faded and the shadows crept in to consume the light once more. Vyse looked to Aika and then to his crewmates, and they all exchanged glances as they felt the _Delphinus_ begin to rise once more. Pale gray light filtered down from above, and cool, fresh air billowed in to replace the choking heat Aika had been forced to shield them from.

"It looks like that's the end of bubble head," she said, waving her hands to dissipate the shield.

"Two birds with one stone, heh." Vyse grinned, then sauntered over to the cargo door to lean out of it, watching as the ship finally rose back above the clouds in a swirl of thick white mist. Up above, everything looked so soft and harmless compared to the world below; he watched the fields of rippling white clouds lazily spin into the horizon, and looked up to the black veil stirring above, marking the lid of Lower Sky. A cool, moist breeze blew in on them, ruffling his clothing and his hair, and he drew in a deep breath in relief.

"We're alive," Marco marveled. "I don't get it, but somehow we're alive."

"Two parts luck, one part skill, I think." Aika grinned at him. "Hey, c'mon. Let's go back upstairs and see if Enrique's got the power back on yet. It sounds like some people got hurt, too. We should check on them."

"Good idea," Vyse replied, turning to join the others by the stairs. He paused though before he made the climb, looking to the harpoon still embedded in the _Delphinus_' side and frowning. "Man..can't believe he's crazy enough to leave us alone with this ship now. I hope when we meet up again, I'll have more than just a couple of bolts to give back to him."

* * *

**(( For a dev blog featuring progress, updates, and theorycrafting on the story as I continue it along, please visit princess-paola . livejournal . com ))**


	33. Loss

Sailor's Isle was unusually quiet as the _Delphinus_ limped in to port. The typical merchant traffic was scarce, and the good majority of the ships left belonged to either local fishermen or those Blue Rogues brave enough to patrol out in the open for scattered Armada vessels. Galcian's defection had hit the trade ports hard, and with Madera locked down tight and Nasrad in shambles, the two biggest merchant arteries that brought life to Sailor's Isle had been severed. Most of the merchants had apparently gone into hiding, dreading the war they knew would inevitably erupt in the midst of Mid Ocean.

The town was more or less deserted, with only a handful of people and a few stray animals left wandering the streets. The usual scents of fish, spices and loqua were absent, and it was quiet enough that they could still hear the wind blowing in from the shore and the uneven chugging of the _Delphinus_' engine as she idled in port. Vyse realized that the whole of Meridia was holding its breath, waiting for either Valua to come, or Galcian to leave and go off to war. Neither boded particularly well for the independent colonies, who were likely to be wiped off the map in the process.

Business was conducted all too quickly without the hustle and bustle to slow them down. They restocked their gunpowder supplies and bought more rations, refueled the _Delphinus_ and purchased repair materials for her, all the while weighed down by the feeling of depression that hung thickly in the air like stormclouds. Their moods were dampened further when they finally went to the shipyards and Enrique purchased a small, run-down, single-person craft, loading the few belongings he'd brought with him on the _Delphinus _into it and tying them down securely.

"You're going to sail all the way to Madera in this?" Aika asked, eying the small craft skeptically.

"Hey, to be fair, we were going to try and waltz in in our skiff," Vyse said, with a lopsided grin.

"Well, I cannot very well take the _Delphinus_ with me. Then you'd be without a ship." Enrique smiled at them, then turned back to his craft, tying down the last of his belongings. "Mother no doubt has countless patrols circling our skies now that Galcian's become a threat to Madera. They'll probably pick me up long before I reach the gates of _la Fortaleza Grande – _the Grand Fortress, that is_._"

"Heh...seems you've really planned this out. You're set on this, then?" Vyse asked.

Enrique sighed to that, standing up in his boat and dusting himself off, then turning to look at them quite seriously. "I am the prince of Valua. I must return to warn everyone of exactly what Galcian plans. They know he's defected, but they don't know who he took with him, where his base is, and that he's sending ships into Deep Sky. But I've seen it and experienced it all firsthand. My knowledge is the greatest weapon we will have in the coming war." He paused then, and bowed his head slightly. "Gregorio was willing to give his life for what he believed in. I must be willing to do the same."

"Enrique..." Aika began, but couldn't seem to find the words to finish. He looked up, and laughed a little.

"You...all of you...taught me so much. About ships, about the sky...about what it means to really fight." The prince smiled, gazing up to the clouds above. "And...you taught me that there are all kinds of people in this world. People worth fighting for! People worth dying for! I want to protect them all. I want to build a country where people don't have to live in fear. Please forgive me for leaving your side, but I've got to save Valua!"

"Hey, nobody's mad. We've all got great memories to keep us company in the meantime." Vyse grinned. "Our escape from the fortress, the Dark Rift, Yafutoma, and beyond! Oh...and your airsickness, too."

Beside him, Aika and Fina giggled. Enrique gave him a look, but it was tempered by a kind and genuine smile.

Vyse continued. "Just be careful out there, alright? If you need help, or allies, you know you can always come to us. At the very least, you've gotta come visit us on Crescent Isle."

Enrique chuckled. "It's a promise. I'll be back to see you...and for Princess Moegi. Please take care of her for me."

"Heh. I'll do my best, but I'm not exactly a prince myself, you know."

"One needn't be a prince to be a good host," Enrique said. "I felt more comfortable with all of you than I have the past several years in the palace. You all are the best friends I have ever had. You can be sure this farewell is not a permanent one." With that, he turned and started up the boat's hover engine, and with a bit of a sputtering sound the propellers came to life, spinning idly in preparation for take off. "But I know if I do not leave now, I'll never be able to pull myself away. It's probably time I headed off."

Fina leaned over to hug him. "Be careful, Enrique! We're going to miss you!"

Aika jabbed a finger into his shoulder. "If you don't come back to see us, I'm coming after you! And you don't want that!" She grinned.

Enrique laughed, then turned to the wheel and began to pull the boat away. It rose into the air and began to float off, and he turned to wave at them as he went. "Thank you, everyone!" he called. "I'll never forget our travels together!"

And then, he swung the boat around and it powered away, chugging off towards the clouds in the north. Aika jumped and waved vigorously at him until he was out of sight, but slowly her expression fell and she continued to stare into the sky long after he was gone.

"Enrique's left us...and once we get back to Crescent Isle, Fina will leave us too."

Fina bowed her head, peering down at her feet silently. Vyse felt his mood crumble into pieces.

"This will be the first time in my life I haven't felt excited about sailing somewhere..." he said.

"Yeah," Aika replied, "me too."

* * *

The trip home was uneventful and largely quiet. The crew busied itself with repairing what they could while the _Delphinus_ was in flight, and with dislodging the enormous harpoon head from the side of their ship. Others were stuck in the infirmary the entire time, nursing wounds left by hot steam and flying ship parts from when the deck had nearly collapsed. Fina kept herself distracted by helping Doc care for the wounded, and Aika did the same by assisting with repairs, but someone had to fly the ship and Vyse wasn't about to leave the helm. He found himself alone on the bridge a good majority of the time, thinking to himself for hours as the clouds slowly passed.

_Where do we go from here?_ He wondered, absently watching some of his crew out on deck as they strung out clothes to dry in the wind. _With Fina and Enrique gone, our quest will officially be over. But Aika and I can't just go back to being normal Blue Rogues. There's not even really an Armada for us to steal from anymore, and even if there was, we'd be hurting Enrique by attacking his ships. Valua needs all the defenses it can get now..._

_What if we helped Valua, kinda like mercenaries? Nah, that won't work as long as the Wicked Witch of the North still sits on the throne. Still, I'd rather see Valua victorious over Galcian..._

_Hmph. I guess all we can really do is protect the victims of the war as best we can, and ease their suffering. A lot of people will be losing their homes. Heh, I know what that's like. _

When Crescent Isle finally came into view several days later, the _Delphinus_ felt ready to collapse from exhaustion. Vyse carefully pulled it into port and finally killed her engines, and with a low whine she powered down and fell into a long-overdue slumber, her hull resting neatly in the drydock Izmael had carved out for her. Grabbing his belongings, Vyse hefted them over his shoulder and joined Aika and Fina out on deck, and together the three wandered down onto the docks. There, they were surprised to find Clara and Gilder waiting for them, the former cradling a basket of something in her arms, and the latter leaning up against a wall enjoying a cigarette.

"Well!" Gilder said with a bit of a laugh when he saw them. "Good to see you're still finding new and interesting ways to beat the heck out of your ship. I trust you've got a good story for me, hm?"

"Oh, there they are! Hello, girls! Hello, Vyse!" Clara chirped, waving at them cheerfully.

Vyse blinked in surprise. "Gilder...and Clara? Together in the same location? Did the Red Moon freeze over or something? Where did you come from, anyway?"

Gilder smirked. "Something like that. _Claudia_ and _Primrose_ are anchored under the island, which is probably why you didn't see us. We wanted to stay out of the _Delphinus'_ way."

"Isn't it wonderful?" Clara beamed. "Gilder has such an appreciation of my marvelous cooking talents that he came to me and asked me to bake for all of you." She held up the basket. "I just made a whole batch of yummy pies! You should eat them while they're still warm!"

Aika grinned. "Pies, really? Well that's always a great thing to come home to. You're the best, Clara!"

Gilder pushed himself off of the wall then, slipping his hands in his pockets as he sauntered over and took a look at them. "Well, you all look no worse for wear. Good to see you all made it outta there in one piece. Not that I had any doubts, mind you. Did you find the ship?"

"Yep, although we haven't really had a chance to look it over yet," Vyse replied. "I don't even know what it looks like still. We've been so busy just trying to make sure the _Delphinus_ held together. It was crazy down there."

"Well, here's hoping we can fix it and get Fina back home." Gilder nodded to her.

Fina smiled a little, and bowed her head to him. "Thank you, Gilder. And thank you for all that you've done to help us."

He chuckled. "Hey, don't thank me. You guys did all the hard stuff. And now, it's finished! You'll be going home a hero. Congratulations."

Fina smiled shyly and thanked him again.

Gilder nodded, then smiled. "Anyways, since you're leaving us, Clara and I decided we should throw you a nice big going away party. Something fun to remember your time here with the Blue Rogues by, y'know? We were just about all set up, but we weren't quite expecting you home so soon."

"Just give us a bit more time, and we'll have a huge meal prepared for you," Clara said. "But no peeking in the meantime! It's supposed to be a surprise."

"Hah! Alright, alright, I promise we'll be good," Vyse replied. "I know what we can do to stay occupied in the meantime, but don't keep us waiting too long!"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Gilder smirked wryly, then stuffed his hands in his pockets and began to saunter off towards the surface. Realizing he was leaving, Clara made an "ooh!" sound and spun around in a dervish of pink skirts, hurrying to catch up with him, grab him by the arm and follow him out.

"Gilder! You can't leave without me!"

"Yes, yes..." he replied, tiredly, their voices fading from earshot.

"So what _are_ we doing in the meantime?" Aika asked, arching a brow at him.

He jerked a thumb back at the _Delphinus_. "Easy. We'll get to work on Fina's ship. It's been down there since the days of the Old World. No doubt it's going to need some serious tuning up."

"Oh no, it shouldn't be that bad," Fina said, with a small smile. "Mithril is extremely durable and excellent protection for both the internal components and the artificial intelligence core. It's most likely just very dirty on the inside."

"Arti...what?" Aika asked, staring at her slightly.

Fina blushed. "Uhm...it's...remember that talking stone in Glacia? That's artificial intelligence. Many things created by the ancients were designed to assist them in thinking, or to think for them."

"Man, how lazy can you get?" Aika put her hands on her hips, turning thoughtful for a moment. "Actually, it might not be such a bad idea for Vyse..."

He rolled his eyes at her and wandered back to the ship, heading for the cargo hold.

Inside the _Delphinus_, the Silvite ship was still tied down and covered by an old canvas tarp. Vyse hooked one of the cranes up to it and moved it out into the port, where Aika and Fina undid the bindings of the tarp and pulled it away. What they uncovered stunned Vyse, and he couldn't help but to stop and stare at what lay there before them. He had never seen anything like it.

The ship was amazingly tiny, perhaps able to hold four people at the most. It was like a teardrop of liquid silver, composed of three other teardrop-shaped segments that were held together by a long, gracefully curved tail that gently tapered to a point. Large gossamer "fins", made of materials he couldn't even begin to identify, extended from the back and made it look vaguely fishlike. Beneath all the mud caked onto it he could see its surface was littered with fleeting runes and the strange circuit-like patterns the ancients seemed to be known for, and its name was etched onto the side in a writing he did not recognize. The cockpit consisted of a console covered in strange balls, knobs, dials and instruments he had no way of comprehending and a large, flat panel that almost reminded him of the radar aboard the _Delphinus_. The ship wasn't just advanced – it was completely beyond him.

"_Vesper_..." Fina read, tracing her fingertips delicately over the writing on the side. "The Evening Star. That's a lovely name. I wonder who this ship once belonged to."

"This is a ship?" Aika asked. "The whole thing?"

Fina giggled a little and nodded, brushing some dried mud aside. "Oh yes. Over the years, as technology advanced, our ships grew smaller, not bigger. We figured out ways to fit just as much power as would exist in a large ship, into something the size of this one. It spared us materials and manpower, which are always in short supply during a war." She shook her head. "This is not a warship, though. You could compare it to what you call a 'sloop' or a 'skiff' on this world. It is meant for quick, easy transport. This is the exact same kind of ship I arrived in."

Aika grinned. "It was just dumb luck, but I'm glad I got the right one. So how's it work?"

"I could explain that better if it was cleaner." Fina frowned to herself. "I wonder how much mud got inside..."

"Well, time to find out," Vyse said.

Vyse ran off and grabbed a few crewmembers, and together they hastily dragged the _Delphinus'_ scaffolding out of storage and set it up around the _Vesper_ so that it would stand on end. Others came in with brushes, brooms, and huge buckets of soapy water, and together they began to work on scrubbing the strange ship down and cleaning all the mud off. Vyse marveled at the craft as he did so, running a hand over its smooth metallic surface. The water turned into little beads and rolled away almost immediately on contact, leaving it dry within seconds, and the mud came free with very little elbow grease on their part. The material beneath was mirrorlike in its polish and yet harder than the steel plating on the _Delphinus_, and when he touched it it sent faint tingles up his spine.

As they cleaned the ship, Fina set to work on its fins. The thin, translucent gray material they were made out of was tattered along the edges and torn in some places, and she frowned to herself as she adjusted them for a time. Finally, she shook her head and gave up on them; they were clean, but she simply had no way of repairing them outside of the shrine. The materials, she said, did not exist on Arcadia.

Defeated, Fina climbed into the cockpit and began to fiddle around with the controls, but the ship would not respond to her. Frowning, she removed a panel in the floor and pressed something, and with a loud hiss, the ship released a small cloud of what Vyse guessed was steam and split itself symmetrically in two, revealing all of its inner workings. It looked nothing like the ships he was familiar with, and the parts it was composed of blew his mind. Much of it seemed to be made of a material that looked like fiber, but was smooth and hard with the texture of stone. There was circuit wiring and strange tubes, squares with golden teeth and large green boards covered in what appeared to be rubber-coated wires. Pulsing like a heart in the center of it all was an enormous crystallized silver moonstone, surrounded by six smaller blue moonstone orbs. Two yellow moonstone prisms were embedded nearby where all the wiring connected together, still glowing as brightly as the day they fell from the sky.

All this, Vyse picked out from the dried, caked mud that had solidified itself throughout the entire core of the ship. His mind made a distant comparison of his mother pouring chocolate cake batter into a shaped pan, for that was indeed what it resembled; the mud had worked its way into every corner where there wasn't something already there.

"Oh no..." Fina groaned. "I-I guess it could be worse. I was worried it was a mechanical problem. I don't know enough about our ships to fix those..."

"Hoo man. This is gonna take all night." Vyse rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a new bucket. "Well, time to get dirty!"

It took the rest of the afternoon to clean the mud out from the heart of the ship. They pulled it away in chunks, then cleaned the residue left behind on the delicate wires and strange machine parts. Eventually Vyse got bored and started a water fight with Aika, until she grabbed a chunk of mud from nearby, got it wet again, and threw it at the side of his head, nearly knocking him clean over. Dazed and dirty, he surrendered to his best friend and she laughed and went back to work.

By the time they were finished, the sun was clearly setting and tantalizing smells wafted into the port from outside. Vyse's stomach grumbled at him in protest, and he took a step back to admire his handiwork and wipe his brow. The ship looked as good as new, although the docks were now covered in water and mud, and he knew they would have to be cleaned next.

"Does it work now?" he asked Fina, as she clumsily climbed the scaffolding back up into the cockpit.

"We'll find out!" she replied, setting to work on the console again.

There came a string of strange beeping and grinding noises, and with a low, soft hum, the ship came to life. The fins in the back began to vibrate rapidly, and from them trailed clusters of sparkles in silver, yellow and blue, falling like snow from the stern of the ship. The console lit up with a cool green glow that illuminated Fina's face, and she gave a small cry of delight as the ship delicately picked itself off the ground beneath her and began to hover.

"It works!" she cried. "Everything still works!"

"Well, it's probably not perfect anymore, but it looks like it'll still get the job done," Aika commented, nodding. "Look at it, Vyse! It's a amazing!"

"What a weird ship. It's incredible." He grinned. "Are you gonna move it, Fina?"

"I think I'll dock it outside, by the flag," she replied after a moment's thought. "That way it will be out of the way."

"Can we ride in it?" Aika asked with a grin.

Fina giggled. "Of course! Come in!"

Vyse and Aika eagerly clambered up the scaffolding and jumped inside the strange craft. It dipped a little under their sudden weight, but smoothly righted itself seconds later, allowing Fina to pull it up and then turn it around, sailing it out the _Delphinus_' port door with only the softest skating noise as any indication that the ship was even running.

To have actually called it sailing wouldn't have done the _Vesper_ any justice; it _glided_ rather than flew, gracefully cutting its way through the air like a feather drifting on the breeze. It did not bob or rock, did not sway with the air currents or show any disturbance from them at all; each movement was liquid and fluid, as if the ship knew several seconds ahead of time what it was going to do. To that the rogue paused, and considered it in wonder as the clouds gently brushed by. Given how advanced the Silvites were, it probably _did_.

The breeze caressed through their hair as Fina pulled the ship wide around the island and around towards the other side, where the _Delphinus'_ flag flew proudly atop the levee ringing the lake. Here, she pulled up alongside the pathway they had built there and set the ship into an idle hover, where she did not need to anchor or otherwise tether it, for it somehow held its place and did not drift away. Amazed, Vyse and Aika stumbled out of the craft and she easily followed, smiling at the two of them.

"It's so nice to have a piece of home again. Thank you for helping me to clean it out. Did you enjoy the ride?"

"It's incredible!" Aika exclaimed. "I've never ridden in anything like that my entire life!"

"I'm...blown away," Vyse said, shaking his head incredulously. "We're so lucky, getting to fly in Old World ships. Who else can say they've done _that_?" He grinned.

The two girls laughed.

"Vyse! Aika! Fina!" they heard Clara's voice call faintly in the distance.

"Oh no! The party!" Aika cried. "And we're all such a mess! Clara will have a fit."

"We'd better clean up real fast, then," said Vyse. "I'm gonna go jump in the bath. I'll see you two in the meeting room, okay?"

"See you soon," Aika replied.

Vyse dashed to the bath house Kirala had built and was thankful to find it empty. While he normally didn't care about his privacy, he simply wanted to get in and out as fast as he could so that the others were not waiting on him. He jumped into the water, kept warm by several red moonstones under the floor, and furiously scrubbed away at the mud Aika had got into his hair until the pool was tinged with all the dirt and grime. But when he stepped out, he realized he'd forgotten to grab his towels, and his clothing was still dirty. He was stuck.

"Uhh..."

Shuffling over to the door, he opened it a crack and carefully peeked outside. Everything closest to the commonhouse where he and the girls slept was quiet, as most people had moved to the other side of island to partake of Gilder and Clara's party. He could hear them talking and laughing and clinking dishes around, and decided that it was reasonably safe to make a mad dash for his room. Bundling up his clothes and clutching them in front of himself to preserve his dignity, he took one last glance around and then slipped from the bathhouse, sprinting as fast as he could to the commonhouse and up the stairs.

Just as he reached the top, the door to Aika's room opened and she and Fina came out, giggling to each other. Their hair was damp and they both sported fresh outfits; Fina was wrapped up in one of Aika's brightly-colored dresses, presumably until her outfit could be cleaned. He screeched to a halt and they froze at the top of the stairs, gazing down at him in horror. Fina brought her hands up to her mouth and looked ready to die from embarrassment.

"Vyse!" Aika cried, incredulous.

"I, uh...heh..." Vyse felt his face growing so red, it nearly stung. "Forgot my...uh...bye!"

He darted past them, into his room, and slammed the door closed behind him.

* * *

It was swiftly growing dark out by the time everyone had gathered. Vyse was the last one to arrive, still feeling a bit uncomfortable as he walked into the meeting room and found the girls there. Aika shot him a wicked grin but Fina only shyly ducked her head, fidgeting with a loose thread on the shoulder of her dress.

Gilder and Clara were waiting as well, and had already prepared the room. The table was set and heaped with all kinds foods from their various travels, from the spicy dishes of Nasr, to the colorful and exotic fruits of Ixa'Taka, Valuan _paella_, Yafutoman seafood, and a traditional broth Polly's Place was famous for. There was loqua and wine, tea and juice, something from every corner of the world. They'd decorated the room in festive banners and colorful ribbons, but Clara had gone a bit overboard and it was a little overbearing. She beamed as he entered, indicating the table with a sweeping gesture.

"Ta-daa! Feast your eyes on this!"

"Clara! You're amazing!" Aika said. "I haven't seen a meal like this in...ever!"

"Heh!" Gilder rubbed at his goatee. "Well, most the drunken liveliness is going on below, but I gotta admit, this'll be good. I hope you'll enjoy it, Fina."

She smiled, clasping her hands over her chest. "Thank you...all of you. This means so much to me. I...I started off not knowing anything about this world, but thanks to all of you, I was one of the first to sail around it."

Aika grinned. "I remember when you first got here, you didn't even know what it meant to buy stuff."

Gilder blinked, flopping into a chair next to her. "What? What kind of crazy place is she from?"

Aika turned to look at him. "I'm not lying. She said that they don't use gold at the Great Silver Shrine."

Gilder grimaced a little, then chuckled. "Wow...that's odd. I don't know if you guys are really advanced...or really behind!"

Fina shook her head slightly. "It's not just gold that we don't have," she replied. "Grass, animals...there are so many things that I've never seen until I came here. In my travels with all of you, I experienced so much. And...and I learned something very important, too..."

Fina paused, staring down at her empty plate. Vyse furrowed his brow, but did not want to interrupt.

"...When I left the Shrine, the Elders told me, 'You cannot trust anyone who lives in that world.' They described the Arcadians as violent, thinking them fools who always bickered amongst themselves and burned in the flames that they themselves set." She looked up then, and her smile returned. "But I met so many caring people while I was here. I learned that even though there are some who try to obtain their objectives through war, there are others who work together to bring peace. When I go home, I am going to tell the Silvites of how wonderful things are down here, of how great the people are. I'm going to show them that they don't need to be afraid. I've learned so much, and I want to share it!"

Gilder leaned back in his chair slightly, and grinned. "Well then, let's teach you one last thing before you go, and you can take that back with you, too – how Blue Rogues party!"

And so began a long night of celebration. The five tore into the private meal Clara had prepared for them, sharing tales of their travels around the table until all the food was gone. By that time, some people had come up from below and insisted that they join the crew for singing and dancing, so they moved back into the town square where the rest of the crew had gathered. Huge tables had been set up for them to feast at, but now they had been pushed aside to make room for a large crowd of people dancing. Those who were musically inclined were sitting around the fountain playing instruments for them, weaving familiar pirate sea shanties one minute, and lively Valuan dances the next.

The longer the night went on, the more drunk the crew got. People began to dance on tables and break dishes, but by then Vyse was feeling rather tipsy himself and simply laughed it off. The singing to the shanties became louder and more off key as the night went on, until people were making up lyrics to the songs altogether.

Fina sat off to the side with Moegi, who looked rather startled by the celebration and a touch uncomfortable with the rowdy drunkenness. Piastol was with them, leaning against a tree with her arms folded across her chest, entirely unamused. Maria would occasionally run over to her with some treat or another from the tables, and that would be the only time she smiled. Then the little girl would run off again to go play with Marco, and her older sister would resume her unhappy state.

Throughout the night, people went over to talk with Fina and share tales with her. Some brought parting gifts, and she began to develop quite a pile. Everyone took their turn to say goodbye, and it seemed to gradually dampen her mood. Piastol turned and began to speak with her, and they appeared to have a rather involved conversation.

By then, Gilder's crew was completely smashed, and was breaking things for laughs. They busted open loqua barrels and sprayed everyone around them, getting them soaked in the fermented moonberry juice. They threw plates up in the air and shot them down with their pistols, and rolled out huge melons, blindfolded people, and sent them out with a plank to try and bust them open. It was all a game for them, but the more Vyse's crew got involved, the more it became a game for them, too. He knew, as he downed another tankard, that Crescent Isle was going to be a mess in the morning. Gilder himself was completely oblivious to them, spending the entire evening talking and dancing with Aika instead.

By the time Clara's crew arrived with desert, everyone was in a goofy, rowdy mood. Rather than eating it, a food fight broke out between the three crews, perpetrated by the children and carried on by the drunken adults. Vyse tried to duck out of the way, wobbled a bit and stumbled over to where Fina was, only to find her gone.

"Where'd she go?" he asked Piastol and Moegi, wincing as his words slurred a little.

Piastol shrugged, then jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the meeting room. Vyse lifted his head and just barely caught the bright blue of the dress Aika had lent Fina, flapping in the breeze from up on the lookout balcony.

"Is she alright?" he asked, frowning.

"Better than you are, I think," the bounty hunter replied, arching a brow.

"Heh. Not a fan of drinking, huh?"

She snorted. "It's a waste. It dulls the senses. This whole celebration is foolish."

"She seemed sad, Captain Vyse," Moegi carefully interjected, peering around the tree. "Or perhaps tired. It _is_ getting quite late."

"Hmm..." He frowned, then strode off.

Vyse rode the elevator back up to the meeting room, where Fina stood upon the balcony looking out at the festivities below. As she heard him approach, she hesitated and turned to smile at him, but it was a very poor attempt at masking her depression and he knew right away, even in his half-drunk state, that she was unhappy.

"What's wrong?" he asked, coming up next to her. "Are you not enjoying the party?"

"Oh, Vyse..." Tears pooled in her eyes as she looked up at him, and she bit her lower lip to try and hold them back. "Tomorrow, I have to leave. I'll...I'll be all alone again. But I don't want to go. I want to stay here, with all of you...You mean so much to me..."

"Is there no way they'll let you come back?" he asked, feeling his heart sink as he drew closer to her. "I mean, what's the point of keeping you locked up in there now?"

"I...I don't know..." she replied, quietly. "Before, it was for our safety. From the Shrine, we could safely watch everything below us, so we could protect it. But now, with the Moon Crystals locked away..."

"There's still the war," he said. "You guys can't ignore the war."

"Wars are...they're not our business..." She shook her head. "We did nothing during the Valua-Nasr War, or when the Valuans conquered Ixa'Taka. The countries that start them must finish them. That is what the Elders believe. So until someone starts a war against the Silvites, we will not fight."

He sighed. "Fina, I...there has to be something! I can't just watch you go and never come back. They can't keep you there after all you've done. You should have earned the right to do what you want through all your hard work here."

She didn't have a response. Down below, the crowd laughed and hooted at something, calling and whistling towards the fountain. A low humming noise began to reverberate from nearby, but he could barely make it out over their shouts and decided it was probably the alcohol going to his head. Instead, he met Fina's gaze and reached out to take her hands, drawing in a deep, nervous breath.

"Fina...uhm, listen..."

He paused, trying to find the right words, but all he could draw was an enormous blank. The hollering below distracted him, and he glanced down for a moment to try and figure out what was going on. He could see nothing through the shifting crowd of people, however, nor could he make anyone out. Blinking, he forced his thoughts back on track and looked to Fina again, his tongue growing dry as he tried to speak.

And the humming grew louder. He shook his head to try and clear it.

"There's...there's something I've been meaning to say for a while now, actually..."

The humming suddenly grew much louder, turning into a powerful churning. A shadow blotted out the Red Moon and fell over the island, and he looked up just as a dark shape dropped down from the skies above and sent blazing shells raining down upon the village. It took a moment for his mind to register what was going on, and time seemed to slow as his eyes followed the fiery tail of a shell flying overhead. He dove and knocked Fina inside the meeting room as an explosion blew away chunks of the cliffside above them, sending clumps of rock and dirt raining down over the balcony where they had stood only seconds before.

Vyse groaned and blinked his eyes open, squinting out the door but finding his vision blocked by a cloud of dust. His head swam in his drunkenness and he shook it to try and clear it out; they'd hit the floor hard and Fina was still in his arms, coughing the dirt out of her lungs. More explosions sounded from outside, followed by the screams of the crews. Vyse's eyes widened as he realized that what he heard was cannonfire, and his heart began to pound in his chest.

"Vyse...what's going on?" Fina asked, frightened.

Gritting his teeth, he picked her up, then took her by the hand and ran back outside. "Come on! Let's go!"

The cloud of dust left by the falling rocks still clouded their vision, but orange glowed through it and he could smell smoke and gunpowder on the air. Relieved to find the elevator unharmed, Vyse pulled Fina onto it with him and sent it back down the cliffside, coughing as he inhaled the acrid scents on the air. As the platform descended beneath the smoke and the dust, however, his eyes fell upon the village, and his insides withered away into nothing.

Crescent Isle was on fire. The village was an inferno, the flames devouring the houses that hadn't already been flattened by shells or explosions. Craters had been blown into the ground and the pathways and trees had been torn up, as if the hand of the Red Moon had come down and decimated everything. Bodies littered the square where the party had been, lying in dark pools that mixed with the water pouring out of the shattered fountain. People were still scattering and fleeing for the safety of the underground port, screaming and shouting as flaming debris rained down on them.

"No!" he cried, desperately. "It's all on fire!"

"Vyse! Vyyyyyse!" came a voice as the platform reached the bottom. Aika came running up to him, covered in soot and blood and her own sweat. "Vyse, it's the Armada! They're destroying everything!"

"Aika!" he cried. "Are you alright? How much of that is yours?"

"Huh? Oh, the blood?" She glanced down at herself, then shook her head. "A lot of people are injured. I helped some of them move down into the port, but there's so many. And some of the others...back in the square..."

"I know. I know." He grit his teeth, looking up into the sky. Through the choking, blackened smoke clouds, he could just make out the shape of a dark ship circling overhead. "Dammit! Who is that? How did they find us?"

"If you must know..." came a voice from behind them. Vyse whirled around to see the flames part and a slender figure step out of them, his sword shimmering cruelly in the dancing light. "A Dangral patrol ship spotted the _Delphinus_ coming out of Deep Sky, and I followed you back here." He laughed, gesturing to the village. "You made it so easy, truly. Drunkenly carousing while the _Monoceros_ crouched in the clouds, watching and waiting. How much more defenseless could you have made yourselves, truly?"

"Ramirez!" Vyse snarled, reaching for his weapons. He grasped the hilts of his cutlasses tightly, until his knuckles were white, but the Silvite only regarded him with mild amusement.

"No need for your swords. My interest is not in you or any of your crew, pirate. There is another purpose for my...visit." Ramirez held out his hand. "I am here for the Crystals. Hand them over. Now."

"You're out of your mind," Vyse growled.

Ramirez smirked. "If you hand them over peacefully, I will call off my troops. If not, we will bombard your pitiful island until you are all dead. The choice is yours, and I should think it's a fairly simple one."

Aika glanced sidelong at Vyse and slowly pulled her boomerang from where it hung on her belt. Behind them, Fina wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, but said nothing.

"You attack my island, kill my crew and then just expect me to happily hand you the Crystals as if nothing happened?" Vyse was so furious he trembled slightly. "You'll have to kill us!"

Ramirez laughed, swinging his sword so that the flames swirled around him in a blazing wreath. "Nothing would make me happier."

And then he was upon them. Vyse had no idea how anyone could move so fast, but Ramirez became a blur of black, silver and white. He crossed his cutlasses in front of himself just in time to deflect a lightning-fast blow, and was forced a few steps back by the power with which the silver blade connected with his own. Ramirez followed up with a strike from below and it raked up his thigh until he managed to catch it with his offhand and force it away, biting his tongue to choke back a cry. No matter what, he would not give Ramirez the satisfaction of causing him pain.

Vyse backpedaled to try and put some space between himself and Ramirez, but the Silvite kept up easily, twirling his sword nimbly on his fingertips and striking with it each time it came around. It was little more than a streak of silver that flew at him from different angles, and he had to move quickly to parry it, blocking with his offhand and then his main, and then the reverse, in rapid succession. Each time their swords connected, blue and silver sparks would flare up and then fall away, drawn into the glowing embers that swirled all around them. He was only distantly aware of his surroundings, too focused on the rise and fall of Ramirez's sword and the Silvite's stony, unmoving face. His eyes betrayed nothing of his next move, and Vyse found it hopeless to try and predict them.

Ramirez suddenly spun around on the spot and slashed out at something in a wide, sweeping arc. Vyse watched, wide eyed, as he cleaved Aika's boomerang in two while it flew at him, splitting it cleanly in half before it had a chance to strike. Wasting no time, he lunged at the Silvite while his back was turned, but as he brought his cutlasses down over his head, Ramirez brought his arms back, reaching behind himself, and stopped the blow dead in its tracks. Before Vyse could recover, he spun around and slung his blades aside, kicking him in the stomach and sending him stumbling back, dangerously close to a burning building. Vyse rolled aside just in time as Ramirez followed up with a blindingly swift stab, driving his sword into a burning beam and missing him by a hair's width.

Vyse stumbled to the side and tried to recover, but Ramirez had already pulled his blade free and was coming at him again. This time the rogue struck first, only to find his cutlass easily cast aside as though it were only a toy. He grit his teeth and pressed the attack, bringing his blades around in short, quick strikes, but Ramirez had an impenetrable defense and met him blow for blow. It didn't take long for the rogue to realize that his adversary was holding back, playing with him and testing his limits. The very notion made him all the angrier, but his thoughts were quickly interrupted as he realized Ramirez was backing him up against the wall of another burning house. Vyse stumbled into it and ducked away just in time as Ramirez lashed out at him, his blade cutting _through_ the stone rather than getting lodged in it. He stared momentarily at the deep scar it left in the wall, as if Izmael or Kirala had purposefully carved an arcing line into the side of the building.

Ramirez struck again, and again. Vyse ducked and then jumped to avoid each strike, leaving more long gashes in the the wall behind him. Behind Ramirez, he caught a flicker of white and yellow, and instinctively ducked as the air noticeably warped and shimmered in the distance. The flames nearby suddenly lurched and came to life, swirling around Ramirez in a blazing veil until Vyse could see him no longer. Panting for breath, he edged away from the house and gazed off to the distance, where Aika and Fina had their hands joined and were channeling some sort of magic.

But as abruptly as it appeared, the maelstrom of flame and ash dissipated, and Ramirez stood facing them, completely unharmed. He growled and returned with a hail of ice shards, but Aika crossed her arms in front of herself and the freezing daggers shattered as they hit her Delta Shield. Fina in turn called out to the Yellow Moon, and a vein of lightning fell from the sky. Her brother gave a startled cry as the forked tongue split right through him, and yet, to Vyse's shock, he still stood moments later when the magical bolt had passed, dazed but far from finished.

The two siblings stared at each other for a moment, until Vyse regained his energy and dashed at Ramirez again. Immediately the Silvite whirled around and swung at him, but he rolled underneath the blade and came up inside Ramirez's guard. Just as quickly, the Silvite nimbly spun behind him so that they were facing back-to-back; Vyse spun on his heel and tried to bludgeon him over the head with the hilt of his offhand, but he caught it on the guard of his sword without turning, flung it away, and whirled back around on him. Vyse brought his main hand up just in time to deflect a wicked stab and the parrying dance began anew, with Ramirez forcing him backwards towards the edge of the island.

But Aika and Fina were hardly ready to give up. The flames danced and the air shimmered, heralding the flow of magic once more, and Ramirez was forced to interrupt his assault and roll to the side as a violent torrent of blue energy tore itself into being where he stood. When he landed, a massive spear of ice thrust up from the ground at his feet, but he leapt into the air and cut his way clean through it, shattering the crystal into hundreds of harmless, glimmering shards.

Aika focused and began to gather the flames from nearby, weaving them together into a raging ball of fire, but instead Ramirez grabbed it and flung it at her with his own spell, and it was all she could do to drop her incantation and raise her shield again. The force of the resulting magical explosion flung her and Fina backwards, but Fina caught them on a current of wind and returned the blow to her brother with a chain of lightning that struck him down as he ran for them. Vyse realized, as he rushed to close the distance between himself, Ramirez, and the girls, that Fina had been the only one to actually land a hit on her brother, not once, but twice. She must have known something that he and Aika did not.

But at the same time, he could not fathom how Ramirez could still move after being electrocuted. Magic did not phase the man any more than Vyse's sword blows did; it was inhuman. There was something almost supernatural about the man, as though he was a ghost. He moved so swiftly that it almost seemed like he phased in and out of existence, and physical blows didn't seem to land on him at all. He was tireless. And he was relentless.

Ramirez recovered and was on the girls before Vyse could hope to catch up. Aika was able to match his speed and nimbly ducked out of the way, coming up behind him with a blast of fire that drew him off of Fina. As he spun on her, Fina locked her hands together and began to recite something in a strange, fluid tongue. Thin lines of silver and white light began to wind their way around the other Silvite, forming rings that criss-crossed over one another. As Fina's voice rose, they glowed with a hot blue light; Ramirez slid to a halt and pointed at her, chanting in Glacian, but before he could finish, Fina raised a hand to the sky and affixed her gaze upon the Red Moon.

"Moons! Petrify my enemy!"

The rings drew taught around him and collided, ringing as if they were made of solid steel and exploding in a flash of brilliant white light. Ramirez made as if to lunge at her and then slowed and froze, finding himself rooted to the spot. Aika and Vyse paused a moment, confused by the turn of events. Ramirez grit his teeth and fought against his invisible bonds, but made only minimal progress.

"You'd dare use Silver Magic against one of your own?" he asked, glaring at Fina. She wrapped her arms around herself and stared back, but she didn't reply. "What is this, Fina? You were once so obedient. But now you've broken a serious taboo. What would the Elders think, if they found out?"

"You are no longer one of us," she replied, quietly. "I'll be forgiven."

He grunted and jerked his shoulders around, and they snapped free of his invisible binds. Then came his arms, and his torso. Vyse began to draw closer as his legs began to pull free, quietly coming up behind him. Noting his movement, Aika twisted her fingers and pulled at the flames from nearby, and Fina hesitantly joined her by weaving her hands together and conjuring another Yellow spell.

Ramirez was surrounded, his movements visibly sluggish as traces of the binds still clung to him. There was no possible way he could escape all three of them, and it left a feeling of satisfaction swelling in Vyse's chest. As they closed in, the Silvite covered his face, as if to feebly block the ensuing blow.

"It's over, Ramirez," he said, preparing to strike. "I told you we weren't simply giving up. I'm sorry you couldn't see the light."

But Ramirez laughed.

Vyse was wrong.

There came a flash of blood red in his mind, and suddenly, time froze. Vyse found himself suspended in his attack, his senses so dulled that the world nearly faded to black around him. He tried to move, but could not; his body simply would not respond.

Panic threatened to replace the confidence he felt just a moment before, and he forced himself to choke it back. Nearby, the girls had frozen as well and hung suspended in their animation, the words of their incantations frozen on their lips. Ramirez was nowhere to be seen.

But Vyse could sense him. He knew he was there.

"Light...hah..." echoed the Silvite's voice around them.

The air rippled, and Ramirez appeared in front of them again, as if stepping out of an invisible curtain. He walked calmly, confidently, his feet falling in measured steps, his sword held loosely at his side.

"Where there is light..." he said, his head humbly bowed, "...there is...darkness."

Vyse failed to comprehend what happened next. Ramirez lifted his blade and blinked past them in a trail of silver light, seeming to go right through Vyse. The light did not fade as he passed, however, instead appearing to turn solid, like dirty glass. He vanished and reappeared behind Aika, blinking through her as he had Vyse; then he did the same to Fina, his sword strokes, unlike before, slow and methodical.

After several passes, Ramirez paused, and calmly strode back into the center of the three of them. He raised his sword above his head and crisply swung it in midair around himself, then vanished from Vyse's conscious sight.

"Sword of the Dark Moon!"

The glass shattered, and time snapped back into place. Vyse became aware of the smoke, the flames, the scent of burning wood and blood. Color flooded his vision again. There was black in the air and orange all around them, and red...so much red...

He was bleeding. Badly. The rogue dazedly reached down and touched the mortal stab wound that had gone through his middle, gazing numbly as his hand came away bloodied. He felt his legs give beneath him, heard the impact as he hit the ground, but it all seemed so distant as it came to pass. A sudden tiredness washed over him, and blackness crept in at the edge of his vision. He felt sick. He couldn't breathe.

He looked up. Ramirez stood above him, wreathed in flame. At his feet lay Aika and Fina in their own blood, completely motionless. His heart threatened to stop beating then and there. He'd failed to protect them.

"Search the houses. Find the crystals!" Ramirez barked at someone Vyse couldn't see. He could hear men speaking in Valuan all around him, but did not have the energy to turn and look and see where they were. He didn't care anymore. All that filled his thoughts, his senses, was the sight of the girls.

_They...they can't be...No..._

Vyse tried to move, but couldn't. The blackness crept in closer and he desperately fought it off, feebly trying to drag himself over to the two. Ramirez left without a word, vanishing from the edge of his vision, and he strained and collapsed from exhaustion. A cold chill washed over his body as he came to the sudden realization that he was dying.

_No...no...this can't be it...no.._

_Moons...please...help us..._

Vyse closed his eyes and the world faded to black. He couldn't go on. He simply had no strength left. It had bled from him with the rest of his life force, sinking into the ground.

And then...

He found himself standing in a barren field. Dried grass grew at his feet, so brittle that when he touched it, it crumbled away. The gnarled corpses of trees rose all around him, little more than twisted brown skeletons that curled up into the cloud-choked sky. He looked over and saw Aika there, and she returned his gaze with confusion.

"Are we...dead?" she asked, her voice echoing hollowly.

"I...I don't know," he replied, with uncertainty. "If we are, this isn't what I expected the afterlife to be like."

"No...we're alive. But barely," came Fina's voice from in front of them. They looked up and found her standing there, smiling softly. "There is little time, though. Give me your hands."

"What's going on?" Aika asked, shaking her head. "What did Ramirez do? We were standing there one minute, and then we were dying the next!"

"Silver Magic holds the powers of life and death, as I taught you," Fina said, taking one of Aika's hands and one of Vyse's as they held them out to her. "Skilled Silver mages can therefore kill someone instantly, in a variety of ways. Ramirez is skilled enough to use the powers of the Silver Moon to freeze time around us, rendering us helpless as he drove his blade through our bodies. Other Silver spells will stop your heart, or your brain. That is why Silvites are forbidden from using Silver Magic against one another. It can cause terrible harm."

"But where are we now?" Vyse asked.

"In a shared dream," Fina replied. "Silver magic is almost purely spiritual. Just as my brother used it to try and end us...I will use it to save us."

Vyse glanced to Aika, and her eyes spoke her feelings: she, like him, still had a million questions in her mind. But he was in no place to argue, or to attempt to fathom the hows and whys of spellcraft; though Silver Magic was beginning to unnerve him, he wasn't ready to walk amongst the Moons just yet.

Fina closed her eyes and drew in a soft breath. A cool, gentle breeze began to stir the field they stood upon, caressing through the grass and playfully tugging the limbs of the trees. He found his gaze drawn upwards, and watched as the Silver Moon pulled back the clouds above them and gazed down upon the parched land below. The milky light that fell upon his face felt cool and soothing, and he closed his eyes as he breathed it in.

But even with his eyes closed, he could still see the moon glowing brightly above them. It was as though it had reached out to touch the three, to ease the pain and the stress of their battle. He became aware of _himself_, of his body, lying soaked in blood and sweat in the middle of a burning village, and could feel it tingle pleasantly as the light seemed to soak into his bones. He opened his eyes as he felt Fina pull back from them, and watched as she looked up to the moon, completely at ease.

"Moons..." she breathed, closing her own eyes. "Bathe us in your light."

The Silver Moon suddenly flared to life, becoming as bright as the sun. Its milky rays swept over the land; the dead grass suddenly became green, and white flowers blossomed at their feet; the trees burst into bloom, crowned with thick canopies of leaves. The light grew so bright that he could not stand it, but even through closed lids it blinded him. And then...

Vyse coughed and sputtered, gasping in the hot, dry air. His eyes snapped open and he found himself lying on the ground. The taste of blood was overbearing in his mouth and he grimaced, sitting up. He was covered in the stuff; thick blood all the way down the front of his tunic, and where he had been lying. But as he tore his tunic open to check for his wound, he found himself healed and whole. There was no gash, no scar. It was as though he hadn't been harmed at all.

Looking up, he found Aika and Fina in a similar state. They were a mess, but they picked themselves off the ground, gazing at their surroundings dazedly. Vyse ran forward and hugged them, and they hugged him back tightly, drawing in slightly ragged breaths.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I won't let anything like this happen to either of you ever again."

"There isn't going to be a second time, Vyse..." Fina replied, quietly.

He pulled back from the two of them, looking them in the eyes. "He thinks we're dead. He's gone after the crystals now. With everything as wrecked as it is, he'll be able to pull them out of our rooms easily. We need to stop him before he can get away, but that probably means more fighting. Can you two still rely on magic?"

Aika nodded. "I'm fine. I...feel great, actually. Like I just woke up from a nice nap."

"I'm drained," Fina replied, with a tired smile. "But I...I'll see what I can do."

Vyse frowned a little, then nodded and picked up his cutlasses from the ground. Together, the three turned and ran down the road to the other side of the island, hastily picking their way over and around debris, and dodging it as it fell around them. But when they reached the commonhouse, they skidded to a halt. Their shared home had been flattened, and was now swarming with Valuan soldiers. Ramirez stood in the middle of the rubble, his arms spread wide. Floating around him were the five crystals they had gathered, glowing brightly against the black backdrop of the night sky.

"At last!" he cried, triumphantly. "All the Crystals are mine!"

"Ramir, wait!" Fina called, running forward and then stopping when he turned to face her. He made a casual pass of his hand, and the Crystals flickered and then blinked out of sight, vanishing into thin air.

"...Hm. I see. Lunar Light." The Silvite paused a moment. "Seems the Temple taught you something useful after all. Very well. You've earned my time."

She hesitated a moment, then took a step forward. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

Ramirez considered his sister, his amusement fading into a grim seriousness. For the first time, he spoke evenly to her – not down to her as he always had in the past. "Fina...the people of this world do not deserve to live. Like you, I was sent here to gather the Crystals. Shortly after I arrived, I learned the Valuan Empire was also looking for them. They were relentless. I knew they would eventually find them, so after Valua's forces had gathered the Crystals, I was going to steal them and return to the Shrine.

"While I was in Valua, I learned a great deal about the people of this world...and what motivates them. Greed. Hatred. Bigotry. They only value material items that can be bought with gold. The people of this world are shallow and petty. I lost all hope for them. I began to despise these pitiful creatures.

"But there was one...one that was different from all the rest: Lord Galcian. Lord Galcian was swayed neither by flattery nor gold. He also had little faith in the people of this world. Only one thing mattered to him...and that was power. Lord Galcian convinced me that this world needed a single ruler, one who could slaughter the weak and lead the strong. He showed me the meaning of true power. The one who holds all the power can end lives, destroy cities, and change the world. A man like Galcian needs to rule this world. Only he can unlock its true potential. So I swore an oath: I would lay down my sword and my life for Lord Galcian.

"We now hold all of the Crystals. With these, a power greater than the Gigas will be brought back to Arcadia. Now, all of you will bow before him."

Vyse grit his teeth, feeling his pride swell up in his throat so much that he nearly choked on it. "You're a fool to underestimate us! Do you think we're just going to sit back and let that happen?"

Ramirez scoffed. "Idiot. What can you possibly do without the Moon Crystals? You don't even know their true purpose."

For some reason, that sent a chill up Vyse's spine. He paused and straightened, lowering his blades. "What are you talking about?"

Ramirez was quiet for a moment, until a cruel smile stretched across his lips once more. "The power to call down the Rains of Destruction lies hidden within them. Did Fina not tell you that?" His gaze shifted to his sister, and the smile became a grin. "Fina, you _did_ know it was our people that called down the Rains, did you not?"

Fina gasped, then shook her head violently. "What!? That's...that's a lie!"

Ramirez laughed, spreading his arms out to the side. "We were not sent here to prevent the Gigas from being revived. We were sent here so the Elders could unearth the lost continent of Soltis. That is our true mission! Once the six Crystals are combined, the Lost Continent will rise from Deep Sky. But now, it is Galcian and I who shall raise Soltis, and together, we will unleash the Rains of Destruction ourselves!"

Aika frowned to that, boldly stepping forward. "I don't know what you're talking about, but aren't you forgetting something? You only have five of the Crystals. The battle isn't over until you have all six!"

Ramirez smirked, then shook his head ruefully. "There's something you don't know about the sixth crystal. The Silver Crystal. Watch closely..."

Vyse grew tense as Ramirez made a show of lifting a gloved hand, displaying the back of it for them all to see. Reaching up with the other, he snatched the glove away, and a sudden brilliant, fluorescent light flooded the immediate area, shining the purest white he had ever seen. Squinting through the luminescence, the rogue gazed on in shock as a small, glassy, multi-faceted orb took form out of the back of Ramirez's clenched fist, so transparent that it was difficult to tell it was even there.

"Wh...what...?" he breathed.

"The crystal...In his hand?" Aika shook her head, incredulously.

Beside him, Fina's breath suddenly caught in her throat. She clutched at her chest, her eyes growing wide as the very same light began to leak between her fingers. Stunned, she pulled her hands away and stared as another crystal took form just over her heart, identical to the one in her brother's hand.

"The descendants of Teletha Selvarn are all born with a copy of the Silver Crystal inside them," Ramirez said, his eyes bright. "They are implanted in those who become Elders as well, to keep their minds sharp and their lives long. It is our life force, and what enables Fina and I to wield magic as powerfully as we do. If the crystal is taken from us, we die."

A stunned silence hung over everyone, as the two crystals pulsed and hummed in unison. Fina stared down at herself uncertainly, as if seeing her own body for the first time.

Finally, Ramirez continued, "Unlike Empress Teodora, Lord Galcian and I are not interested in Fina's knowledge of the Ancients. As it is, she evidently wasn't taught half of what I was." He laughed. "Rather, we are interested in the crystal within her body! Come, Fina! Give your life to Lord Galcian!"

"What?!" she cried. "I--"

But she could never finish. Ramirez reached for her, and the glow in his hand intensified. Fina suddenly screamed in agony and went limp, and he lifted her into midair like a rag doll. Vyse stared in horror as he watched the crystal slowly raise from her body, watched as she grew pale and seemed to wither away before him. Shaking himself, he dug his feet into the ground and dashed for Ramirez, but a pulse from his crystal sent the rogue flying backwards and into Aika before he was even halfway there. Immediately, he picked himself back up and threw himself against Ramirez again, and again the crystal repelled him, sending him skidding across the ground. Relentlessly, Vyse stood and tried again and again, fighting at the crystal's force field until he was bloodied and bruised all over again. But the only progress he made was in harming himself and, defeated, he stood once more and helplessly watched as the crystal separated itself from Fina's body.

Until something exploded behind Ramirez, nearly knocking the Silvite off his feet.

The channeling suddenly stopped. The crystal sank back into Fina and she dropped to the ground, where he and Aika gathered her up protectively. Both Vyse and Ramirez lifted their heads to the sky, only to find the _Claudia_ and the _Primrose _circling overhead, their cannons trained on Ramirez and his guards below. Gilder stood out on the deck of his ship, manning one of the guns himself.

"Hey! Asshole!" he called down. "You're forgetting something! You mess with my friends, you mess with me! You mess with me, you mess with _Claudia_!"

Ramirez hissed, rubbing his hand sorely. "...Pests..."

The _Claudia_ opened fire again, sending a hail of grapeshot into the Valuan soldiers below and killing several instantly. As the _Monoceros_ flew in to back them up, the _Primrose_ opened fire on her, and the two ships exchanged a short volley before a tow line was lowered to Ramirez. He grabbed ahold of it and his crew began to pull him up, but as he rose he paused and smirked down to Vyse, radiating nothing but smugness.

"I got what I came for. I can get the Silver Crystal any time I please."

"Like hell you will!" he replied. "You're going to pay for this, Ramirez! You will pay!"

Still firing at the _Primrose_, the _Monoceros_ turned and began to sail away, rising swiftly into the clouds. The _Claudia_ and the _Primrose_ gave chase a short way, but she melded into the night sky as if a part of it, and then Ramirez was gone.

All fell still and quiet. Vyse was left with nothing but a ruined home, a shattered crew, and a half-dead Silvite in his arms.

* * *

**(( For a dev blog featuring progress, updates, and theorycrafting on the story as I continue it along, please visit princess-paola . livejournal . com ))**

* * *


	34. Decisions

She awoke in a makeshift bed set up for her in the meeting room, her head reeling with the nightmares she had had all night. Slowly, Fina sat up and clutched the blankets to her chest, discovering a hazy blue sky through the window and the bright sun and Red Moon gazing down at her through it. It must have been late in the morning, she reasoned. It was unusual for her to sleep in.

Slowly, the Silvite reached down and ran her fingers over her chest. There was nothing visibly there now, but if she focused, she could feel the crystal pulsing inside her, beating like a second heart. Why had she never noticed it before? And why had nobody told her? As the questions flooded her mind, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to force the ensuing wave of fear away. She knew nothing anymore, about Arcadia, about her people, about her family or herself. She felt lost and helpless, even more so than when she had first descended to the planet. It was overwhelming.

Her fingers trailed down to the fuzzy pink robe she was wrapped up in, and she reasoned it must have been one of Clara's. Nearby, her white robes were folded neatly upon the table, pressed and washed and waiting for her. She couldn't remember ever getting out of Aika's dress, though...

Fina shook her head. What was she thinking? The dress was ruined. Memories suddenly came rushing back at her, of the party, the attack, the decimated village and the fight with her brother. Her eyes widened as she recalled him freezing them in place, and driving his blade through their bodies. They'd nearly died. She'd nearly died twice. In fact...

Her hands found their way to her chest again, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. Her older brother, who she'd loved and adored and looked up to for so long, saw her as little more than a tool, an object. He was so driven to see Lord Galcian in power that he was willing to sacrifice anything and everything, was willing to kill her just to harvest the crystal from her body. No longer was she a person to him, and no longer did she hold any place in his heart. He was right. He'd been right all along. Ramir was truly dead.

"Elders...was Ramirez telling the truth? Who am I supposed to believe...?"

Slowly, Cupil unwound himself from around her wrist and stretched back into his true form. He squeaked at her softly, gazing at her with concerned black eyes. With a soft sob, she reached out and pulled the Apis to her, hugging him tightly, and he cooed to her and snuggled up under her chin, trying to comfort her as best he could.

Suddenly, a knock came at the door. She jerked her head up and hesitated, falling silent. Perhaps if she remained quiet, the person would think her asleep and would leave her alone. She did not feel like speaking with anyone, not for a long time.

"Fina?" Vyse called from the other side. "It's, uh...it's me."

"Oh...Vyse..."

"I...just wanted to check in on you. We're all worried about you down there. Can I come in?"

Again she hesitated. "No, I...I'd just like some time alone. Please."

He was quiet for a moment. "...I understand. But you're alright?"

"Yes, I...I'm fine."

"Okay..."

She saw him pass by the window, and then he was gone.

But Vyse looked ragged and torn. As he left, she noticed his tunic was still caked with dried blood, and realized that he likely hadn't slept at all since the night had passed. Biting her lower lip, Fina stood and went to the window, and that was when she saw the aftermath of the night before.

Crescent Isle was in ruins. Nearly all the houses had either burnt to the ground or been destroyed by the cannonfire, lying in heaps of ash. It looked like the graveyard of a great animal, the charred bones of which thrust weakly into the sky. Many of the ruins still smoldered, and a thin haze of smoke hung over the village, hauntingly. The ground was scorched and torn up in many places, and stained with dried blood in others. Fina's heart sank as her gaze followed the coastline to a row of freshly-dug graves, marked by small piles of rocks. Between Vyse's, Gilder's and Clara's crews, thirty two had lost their lives.

And yet, to her surprise, the village was still very much alive. Doc had brought his ship around to a corner of the island and was using it as a clinic to treat the wounded. Those who were healthy enough picked their way among the wreckage, clearing debris out of the way and salvaging their belongings from among the ashes. The kokettas had gotten loose and and were leading people on a mad chase around the island, and they tried – and failed -- to round them back up into their pens.

As Vyse came back down, she watched him walk into the heart of the village and begin giving orders. He directed people where to go, his voice loud and strong enough to faintly reach her as he called out. This needed to be moved. That needed to be cleared. They would rebuild things, and it would be better, he said.

And they did not doubt him for even a second. She watched in amazement as people worked together, casting aside their attitudes and prejudices in order to save their home. She wasn't so naïve as to think that everyone on the ship got along; she knew they didn't, and yet that didn't seem to matter now. Everyone was a Blue Rogue, and everyone played an equal part. It stunned her.

Fina watched, and thought.

It was well into the afternoon by the time everybody took a break. They sat and rested where it was clear enough to do so, and Vyse and Aika tirelessly delved into the stores, bringing up dried food until everyone had something to eat. Only then did they flop down together exhaustedly on the edge of the broken fountain and have something to eat themselves, tearing into the meager meal with gusto.

By late afternoon, the _Claudia_ and the _Primrose_ arrived, weighed down by all the construction materials they carried. Fina realized they must have run to Nasrad overnight to get supplies for the village, and they had gathered all they could possibly carry. Together, the three crews began unloading the ships and piling up the supplies against the face of the mountain, cheering when Gilder emerged with barrels of loqua and fresh food. Everyone seemed to take heart in the simple, familiar comforts, and Fina could _feel_ the spirits around the island rise. Despite the disaster the night before, everyone still had hope. They were determined to persevere no matter what, and it left a warm feeling swelling in her chest. She loved these people dearly, all of them. Her people had much to learn from the Arcadians.

"Maybe my life is better now than it ever was before..." she whispered to herself.

As the sun began to set, everyone was ready to collapse from exhaustion. They dug out a fire pit and made a bonfire in the town square, and it was there they sat and tried to recover from the day's activities. Clara, Polly and Urala worked to cook up a hearty stew for them, but they had to scramble to keep up with their ravenous appetites and soon found themselves falling behind. Once they were all off their feet and their bellies were full, they began to talk among each other, and several began to sing. Not all of the songs were the liveliest sea shanties, but they had heart nevertheless, and she could hear the feeling behind the words.

But Fina had seen enough. Standing, she shed her pink robe and donned her white ones, pulling her veil snugly around her head. Motioning to Cupil, she then turned and left the meeting room, riding the elevator back down to the ground below.

Nobody noticed her as she quietly drifted by, making her way towards the far side of the island where she had seen Vyse and Aika go. She found them standing atop the levee where her ship was, pulling down the charred scraps of the _Delphinus'_ flag and raising a new one they had taken from on board the ship instead. Satisfied, the two old friends turned and looked out over the sky below, warmed in oranges and yellows courtesy of the sinking sun, and exchanged a few words with each other. She came up behind them quietly, hesitated, and took a deep breath.

"Vyse...Aika..."

The two turned, their faces lifting in surprise.

"Fina!" Aika cried.

Fina smiled, and bowed humbly to the two. "I'm sorry...if I caused all of you to worry about me."

Vyse shook his head, returning the smile. "Hey, it's alright. Are you okay now?"

She nodded. "Yes. I've had plenty of time to rest, and plenty of time to think. Actually, I...I have a favor to ask of you. Both of you." She hesitated. "Will you...will both of you come with me to the Great Silver Shrine?"

Aika gasped. "What? I thought we weren't allowed in there or something."

Fina bowed her head. "You're not. But I...I don't care anymore. Ramirez was saying that in order to call down the Rains of Destruction, he needs all six of the Moon Crystals. I thought that the Crystals could only control the Gigas. I didn't know that they could call down the Rains. And I had no idea that my own people were responsible for the deaths of millions. I...even have a piece of the Silver Crystal inside my body." She swallowed, thickly. "Everything the Elders told me...my whole life...has been a lie. I understand now why my brother was so upset. I understand now why he turned to Galcian. I want to know...I _need_ to know the truth. About the Crystals. About my people. Vyse, Aika, I will ask you again like I did so long ago...will you travel with me?"

Vyse grinned from ear to ear. "Of course we will! Heck, even if you didn't want us to go, we'd come along with you anyway."

"No matter what happens, we'll always be your friends, Fina!" Aika added, with a warm smile.

Fina felt tears sting at her eyes again, and she laughed quietly and brushed them away. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Hey now, what's all this?" came a familiar voice from nearby. Turning, the three found Gilder sitting casually at the edge of the lake, resting his chin thoughtfully against the back of one hand. "I hope you're not actually planning on leaving and having all the fun without me again."

"Gilder! Where did you come from?" Aika asked.

"Oh, here and there." He grinned. "Actually, I spotted Fina leaving the meeting room finally and came to see how she was doing. I don't know, but things sound like they're just about to get interesting. Think I'd better stick around." He winked.

Aika grinned. "Looks like we have a party again."

"So, when are we going to head out?" Vyse asked, looking to Fina. "And what will we need for the trip?"

"Nothing," she replied. "The trip takes only a day, and the Shrine is largely self-sufficient. We can leave tomorrow, in the morning."

"Well, then let's rest up in the meantime, hm?" Gilder said. "We've had a long, hard two days, and we're likely in for a huge culture shock once we get up there. Not something you want to be half asleep for, heh."

To that, Vyse yawned, and stretched. "Then I'm going to bed right now. I'll be in my cabin on the _Delphinus_, if anybody needs me."

* * *

Enrique had thought that, after all the time he'd spent with the air pirates, he'd be a pretty competent sailor himself. And indeed, he knew now how to sail – but not how to navigate. Back on the _Delphinus_, Vyse had always been at the helm, while Aika communicated with the crew, Fina navigated, and he had monitored all the electrical systems that the pirates were completely unfamiliar with. While it had kept the bridge and the ship herself running smoothly, it had left him with very little navigational knowledge and now, the prince was quite hopelessly lost.

He knew the rough direction that Madera lie in, and yet for over a week now he was quite sure that he'd been going in circles along the Valuan coast. The problem was, he didn't know if he was too far north or too far south of the capital, and was uncertain of which way he should follow the coastline. His fuel and food supplies were rapidly diminishing, and he began to feel a little desperate. Finally, he simply picked a direction and sailed in it, hoping to at least encounter a seaside village along the way.

But time passed and his food stores ran out, and still Enrique had not come across any ports. That day, he'd been sailing nonstop out of necessity, knowing that if he did not find a settlement by the end of the day, his fuel supply would soon follow. As nighttime fell over the rocky coastline, however, he finally caught sight of the flashing lights of a ship in the distance, and flashed a lantern at it in the hopes it would see him. Sure enough, the vessel changed its course and came for him, and he slowed as it approached. To his surprise, the _Lynx_ emerged out of the darkness, and as he pulled up alongside it, he gave the men standing out on deck quite a start.

"P-Prince Enrique?!"

"Good evening!" he said, with a grin. "This is a pleasant surprise."

"Your Highness, what are you _doing_ out here?"

"Did you finally escape from the air pirates, my prince?"

"Ah...yes...something like that," he said, climbing aboard. "How far out are we from Madera?"

"A good ways south, Your Highness," one of the soldiers replied. "The Admiral is just now returning from Mid Ocean."

Suddenly, it occurred to Enrique that the _Lynx_ had been docked at Dangral Island when they'd broken in. Either Belleza was going to use her subterfuge skills to spy for Galcian, or she, like Gregorio, had betrayed him in the name of the Empire. He dearly hoped it was the latter; Belleza was a friend and ally he could not afford to lose.

"I see," he said. "Is she available now? Might I speak with her?"

"I believe the Admiral is enjoying dinner by herself currently, but I am certain she would be more than happy to learn she has a very important guest." The soldier bowed. "Please, Highness, come with me."

"But of course. Thank you," he replied.

The soldier led him into the ship as a few of the others pulled his boat on board and retrieved his belongings. Inside, the Lynx was warm and impeccably clean, by far moreso than the _Delphinus_; Belleza cared for her men as though they were family, but she also kept them tightly disciplined, and it showed in every corner of her flagship. They followed her out of loyalty and respect rather than fear, and that was one of the things he liked most about her.

The corridors were strangely dark; not all the lights had been turned on, leaving only just enough luminescence to see. It was largely quiet save for the gentle humming of the ship's engine far below, although as they passed a few rooms, he could hear murmured conversations coming out of them. Peeking through one of the doors as he walked by, he spotted some of Belleza's men crouched in a corner playing cards.

"She's going to catch us!" a younger recruit whispered loudly.

"No she's not! Now either call or draw!" another replied.

The prince smirked to himself and continued walking.

When they got to Belleza's cabin, the soldier nodded to him and left. Enrique knocked at the door but, when no response came, opened it and let himself inside. Belleza was by herself, enjoying a quiet meal by candlelight, but she looked distant and thoughtful, and hovered long over her wine glass before taking a sip. The prince hovered uncertainly in the doorway before hesitantly clearing his throat, and when she looked up she gasped and nearly dropped her drink.

"Prince Enrique!" she cried.

He smiled. "Good evening, Belleza. I hope you don't mind me tagging along."

She stood and bowed, then moved over to him. "You're a sight for sore eyes, Your Highness. But where did you come from? I don't understand. Is Vyse here as well?"

He shook his head. "No...Vyse and I have parted ways for now. With Galcian's betrayal...and Gregorio's death...I knew it was time for me to return to Valua. Your men spotted me and picked me up. It's all just funny timing."

To that, Belleza bit her lip and looked away. He frowned.

"Belleza. You're returning to Madera, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"What are your intentions?"

She glanced up to him for a moment, looking hurt, but turned her gaze away again seconds later. "Lord Galcian bade me to return to Valua and remind the Empress of his loyalty to the Empire. I am to remain by her side until I receive further orders."

He was incredulous. "Don't lie to me, Belleza! I thought we respected each other more than that."

"It's not a lie, Prince Enrique!" she cried, gazing up at him pleadingly. "Please...you must believe me. Gregorio and I...we're loyal to Valua to the death. Nothing should ever cause you to doubt that. But I cannot simply betray Lord Galcian. It's...it's more complicated than that. Lord Galcian truly did tell me to return to your mother's side on his behalf. Those were his words to me."

"Loyalty?!" Again, he shook his head. "Belleza, he took three quarters of the Armada and all the funding given to it, built a base beneath the clouds without my mother's permission, and then stopped listening to her orders! I stood there with Gregorio as he told us how he no longer obeyed the Valuan Empire, and that he walked his own path now. How is that loyal?"

"I...just because he's no longer loyal to your mother does not mean he is disloyal to Valua," she replied, after a moment.

"You would see Mother overthrown?" he demanded. "Her reign is harsh, yes, and I do not believe in it, but that also sends me into exile at best and gets me killed at worst! Think, Belleza! You're smarter than this! Something isn't right here!"

She gave a frustrated cry and began to pace the room, the yellow ribbons on her shoulders trailing behind her and fluttering with her movement. "I don't know, Prince Enrique. I don't know! Everything's such a mess right now. I can't think straight. I don't know who to believe."

"You're going to have to choose a side, and soon," he said, quietly. "We cannot avoid this war."

She ceased pacing, turning her back to him and bowing her head miserably. "...But we can."

"What? How?"

"Lord Galcian said that if Valua did not resist, he would not have to use the Rains of Destruction."

That hit Enrique like a broadside from the _Delphinus_, and he felt his heart stop beating. When he could breathe again, he rushed over to Belleza and spun her around to face him, staring at her in horror. "What did you just say?"

She swallowed thickly, tears pooling in her eyes. "It's an old Silvite legend that Ramirez told to him. When the six Moon Crystals are gathered, the lost continent of Soltis will rise, and the wielder of the crystals can then call down the Rains of Destruction. He is going to use the Rains to take over the world."

"Is that true?" he asked, searching her face. "I've never even heard of Soltis before."

"It's the whole purpose of the Dangral Island base, Enrique," she said, quietly. "Dangral hovers above the point where Soltis sank. We sent DeLoco through the vortex to discover where Soltis rested and to find us a way inside. The _Chameleon_ worked to restore power to an old Silvite transporter so that we could get down there and walk the Lost City. He _saw_ it with his own eyes. The continent – or what's left of it – is very real. Now, Galcian's sent Ramirez out to track down the _Delphinus_ and retrieve the Moon Crystals from Vyse. I...honestly do not think Vyse is strong enough to defeat him."

"This...this cannot be..." he whispered, his gaze growing distant. Absently, his grip slipped from her and he stumbled back into a chair, sitting down hard.

She sighed. "I tried to convince him to reconsider. If he called down the Rains, so many innocent people would die. He was concerned I might betray him, and I told him no, I would never do that. So then he told me, 'I do not wish to fight an unnecessary battle. As long as Valua does not resist, there should be no reason to use the Rains of Destruction.'"

Enrique was silent for a long time. Finally, he simply shook his head and looked up at her. "Make haste for Madera. Have your men work around the clock if you must. We have to warn Mother of the impending danger and get all of our people evacuated to safety underground. Madera's citizens will have to hide in the catacombs. The others, though..." He paused and thought. "The Maw of Tartas. Yes, it will have to be. It's the only place large enough to sustain Valua's entire population."

"So you're going to fight instead of surrender," she said.

He frowned. "I'm not going to idly sit by and let him wipe out our cities and towns. He's going to have to fight us for the right to do so. Valua still has an Armada, albeit a very small one now. Those who are still loyal to us will still fight. And we will. I'll lead the fleets myself."

To that, she smiled a little. "It seems the time you spent with Vyse has done you some good, my Prince. I'll go relay your orders."

He nodded, then fell into a brooding silence once she had left.

* * *

He'd forgotten how powerful the _Lynx_'s engine was, even though Belleza had already been forced to replace it once. The flagship made amazing time, cutting through the skies until the bright spotlights of the Grand Fortress appeared through the gloom on the horizon a few days later. A pair of patrol ships stopped her, concerned she had been one of Galcian's defectors, but she had been prepared for the question and answered them with a lie.

"I've been in hiding for several weeks," she said, with a perfectly straight face. "I did not choose to join Lord Galcian with the others, and I knew that would make me a target. I've only now managed to get away and make it back to Madera. The Prince is with me if you do not believe me. We must speak with Her Majesty at once."

That was all it took. The ocean became clear for the _Lynx_.

The Grand Fortress was locked down tight. The entirety of Madera had been blockaded, and soldiers swarmed the fortress walls, their eyes glued to the southern horizon. They looked tired and wary, and some even a little fearful; occasionally a ship would pass and they would flinch and whirl around on it, only to realize it was one of their own and relax a moment later. Enrique felt pity for them. They were plagued by uncertainty, yet they didn't even know half of what was going on behind the scenes. He didn't want to make it all the worse by telling them.

The gates opened just enough to let the _Lynx _sail through, and closed behind her immediately afterwards. They found the channel to the bay empty and eerily quiet, devoid of the usual activity that normally buzzed through it; in the vastness of the tunnel, the _Lynx_ felt tiny and out of place. Belleza slipped her flagship into its drydock and then climbed into a lifeboat instead, continuing the journey with only Enrique by her side.

Bittersweet emotion washed over Enrique as they emerged into the bay and beheld Madera sparkling on the far shore. He was home at last, and yet it was due to horrible circumstances. He tried to imagine the capital as a battlegrounds and simply could not; with luck, Galcian would not make it that far.

The city slowly wrapped around them as they made their way for the Imperial Palace. It shone as brightly as ever from the little island it floated upon, as if made entirely from precious gems. Carefully, Belleza pulled around to the front gates and, after a brief exchange with the guards, was able to set her lifecraft down in the courtyard. The gates were closed behind them.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked, turning to look at him grimly.

"She won't like what we have to say. But there's no possible way she could ignore the impending danger," he replied.

Belleza sighed. "Moons, I hope you are right."

The two of them had been gone for months, yet in that time, the palace had not changed one bit. The various servants, guards and lords were oblivious to the betrayal of Galcian or, if they knew, were entirely unconcerned; the nobles greeted Enrique and Belleza with their usual aloofness, offering only a curt, "Glad to see you are well, Highness," as he passed. After spending so much time amongst air pirates, Enrique felt almost out of place among the gaudy décor and rich finery that was displayed at every turn; Aika would have loved it, but Vyse would have been disgusted, and Gilder would have just as soon melted it all down and sold it.

They climbed a long flight of stairs and then walked down an even longer marble hall. At the end, an enormous set of heavy walnut doors stood before them, carved with the dragon emblem of the royal family of Valua. Two guards sitting outside bowed and then pulled them open, and, after a moments' hesitation, they stepped into the throne room.

The great hall was empty, save for the myriad of guards Teodora normally had stationed along the walls. The empress sat low in her throne at the far end, speaking with, to their surprise, Alfonso. As the doors opened, she lifted her head and let out a startled gasp, rising from her seat and rushing down to Enrique in a flurry of skirts and feathers. Before he could get much further, she threw her arms around him and nearly smothered him in her bosom.

"My son!" she cried, her voice echoing throughout the empty chambers. "Oh, my son! Finally you have returned to your senses and come back to me!"

"Mother..." he murmured, pulling away from her slightly. "I'm sorry for what I must have put you through."

"Ah, but you have such wonderful timing. Your cousin has brought us interesting news! Come, come." She grabbed him by the sleeve and began to pull him along, and he cast a confused look back to Belleza. The admiral simply shrugged and quietly followed behind them, keeping a respectful distance.

Alfonso considered him as they all approached, his gaze flicking from Belleza to Enrique and back again. A smirk slowly spread across his lips and he flicked a tendril of hair out of his face, and Enrique decided that he was a little too amused with the situation.

"Ah. The prince is back," he said. "Which story was true then, dear cousin? Were you abducted, or did you run away with that rabble?"

Belleza spoke up, "I believe that is none of your business, Alfonso."

He glared at her. "You will not speak to me like that again."

"By whose authority? Yours?" she arched a brow.

"Yes. Mine."

She snorted.

"Alfonso has been in hiding in Nasr for weeks, avoiding the defectors," Teodora explained, climbing back into her throne. "During that time, he learned many interesting things. He returned just today to so kindly share his information with us."

"I see. And what did he learn?" Enrique asked, considering Alfonso briefly.

"Before I left the base, I learned from that dolt Vigoro that Lord Galcian was planning to use the Moon Crystals to call down the Rains of Destruction and take over the world," Alfonso said. "I knew I had to tell Auntie Teodora right away, but I also knew that would make me a target for Galcian, so I ran and hid in Nasrad. While I was there, two of Vyse's filthy pirate companions showed up and bought a whole city's worth of construction supplies, then left."

"Wait, you knew? You told Mother already?" Enrique stared at him. "What are you getting at then? Who were these friends of Vyse's?

Alfonso waved a hand dismissively. "Don't ask _me_. I don't really care. But that means both Galcian AND the pirates are up to something."

"Vyse..." Belleza cut herself off, then straightened. "Lord Galcian sent Ramirez to hunt the pirates and retrieve the crystals. If his allies were purchasing construction supplies, then that means..."

"They must have discovered Vyse's base of operations..." Enrique tried to keep a passive face, even as a knot tightened itself in his stomach.

"Marvelous!" Teodora cried, clapping her hands together. "Then that takes the pirates out of the equation entirely! One last thing we have to worry about."

Enrique and Belleza exchanged uncertain glances.

"If Ramirez has the crystals, then that means they are all gathered in one place now. Oh, this is just too perfect." The empress was delighted with herself.

Enrique shook his head. "Mother, that doesn't matter right now. Our bigger concern currently is the fact that with the crystals, Galcian now has the power to call upon the Rains of Destruction. He could wipe out the entirety of Valua in a single stroke! We need to start evacuating our cities and getting our people to safety!"

She chuckled. "Enrique, do not be ridiculous. You are failing to consider the situation at hand! With the crystals all gathered in one place, we will not have to go through the trouble of finding them! All we need do is gather the Armada and defeat Galcian, and then they will be ours at last!"

Enrique was aghast. "Mother! You can't be serious! The Armada is at a quarter of its strength at best! Only the Second and Fourth Fleets remained with us!"

"Yes, but it was my rule, my command that made us victorious," his mother replied. "Galcian was a delightful tool, but in the end, he was a soldier, and that makes him disposable. Without my leadership, his fleet will crumble. They stand no chance of victory." She gestured to Alfonso. "I have named your cousin the new Lord Admiral in Galcian's place. He will lead our glorious Armada to victory!"

Belleza stared at her. "Y-Your Majesty. With all due respect..."

"Not to worry, Your Majesty," Alfonso interrupted. "All my previous failures up to this point were the result of Galcian's poor command. I will personally take the crystals from his corpse."

"Good, Alfonso. Good..." the empress purred.

Enrique shook his head. "Mother...no. No! You have to reconsider. This isn't a matter we can just take lightly! We are dealing with a power greater than even the Gigas!"

She scoffed. "That Silvite filled your head with fairytales and nonsense. My decision is final, Enrique. Valua will declare war against Galcian and sail out to do battle posthaste."

"No, mother. No."

"Don't tell me no, Enrique! This is not your decision."

"You can't do this."

"You are trying my patience. My word is final. This is the path Valua will take to victory."

Enrique became coldly serious. His mind raced, and his heart pounded in his chest. Steeling his nerves, he drew his rapier from his side, and brandished it at her. In unison, she and Alfonso gasped and recoiled in shock.

"Enrique! What are you doing?!" she cried.

"Succeeding you, Mother," he replied, grimly. "I'm sorry. I love you dearly, but if you are not willing to do the right thing, then I...I must do this. I must make things right. For Valua. For my people." He took a step forward, tightening his grip on the hilt.

"N-n-nooo!" Alfonso cried, scrambling backwards and tripping over his own cape.

"Enrique!" Teodora went pale, and shrunk back into her throne. "Sheathe your sword at once! I am your mother!"

Enrique drew in a deep breath, then advanced. He heard Belleza move behind him, felt something strike the back of his head, and suddenly fell into blackness.

* * *

Enrique awoke to find several people hovering over him, none of whom he recognized. Uncertainly, he drew himself up in his bed and found himself in a dirty, run-down room that reeked of mold and rot, but his bed was clean and a fresh bowl of water sat by his bedside. Blinking his eyes and forcing them to focus, he realized that the people gathered around him were poor Lower City residents; Belleza sat in a corner, one leg crossed over another, her foot idly tapping as she gazed distractedly out the window.

"Admiral Diaz! His Highness is awake!" one of the strangers cried.

Belleza lifted her head and gave a relieved sigh, immediately sweeping over to his bedside. "There you are. Thank the Moons."

"Belleza?" He blinked, peering around at his surroundings. "What happened? How did we wind up in Lower City?"

Belleza sighed. "I knocked you out before you could pull that little stunt of yours back in the palace," she said. "Your heart was in the right place, but I knew you would regret it for the rest of your life. What in the world has gotten in to you?"

"I..." He bowed his head. "I didn't know what else to do. Mother has gone mad. She won't listen to reason at all."

"Well she certainly was off her rocker after what you tried to do," Belleza said, folding her arms across her chest sternly. "She started raving that you were mad, that the air pirates had brainwashed you. She ordered me to take you to the Grand Fortress and lock you up in isolation until you returned to your senses. When I tried to reason with her, _Alfonso_ pulled rank on me. So instead I brought you here, to hide. He and your mother would never dream of a noble of any kind coming to Lower City."

Enrique bowed his head, suddenly feeling a wave of shame wash over him. "...Thank you, Belleza. I'm sorry for causing so much trouble. I just...I want to save Valua. I'll do anything to save Valua."

"As do I," she replied gently, looking him in the eye. "But this isn't the way to do it. You know as well as I do that the fewer lives we lose in the process, the better. Don't worry. We'll think of something. But for now, it's best you lay low. As far as the palace is concerned, I locked you away, so it's best they keep thinking that for now." She turned then, and nodded to the two ragged-looking people by his bedside. "This is Mr. and Mrs. Martillo. They own the inn here and were more than happy to provide a room for their prince."

The two bowed to him, nervously.

"Highness, we know you've done good things to help the people of Lower City. We just want to return the favor. You'll be safe here," Mr. Martillo said.

He smiled to them, tiredly. "Thank you. Both of you."

They bowed again and shuffled out, closing the door behind them.

"Belleza. Where do we go from here? I...I can't do anything now."

She sighed. "Give me some time. I need to discover if Vyse is still alive. Ramirez doesn't often leave his victims breathing, but he might have spared them because his sister was among them. If anyone can get the crystals back, it's him. In the meantime, I'll work on your mother in regards to evacuating everyone into the Maw of Tartas. It'd be a difficult and expensive endeavor; I'm sure she won't be at all partial to it."

He smiled a little. "Does that mean you've chosen to fight for Valua, then?"

She hesitated, then shook her head. "No, I've not made my decision yet. But neither am I going to sit by while my country is destroyed, from either the outside or within." She stood then, and walked crisply out the door. "Goodnight, Prince Enrique."

Enrique frowned, sighed, and fell back on his pillow, feeling utterly defeated. Up above, the Yellow Moon watched him through an unusually cloudless sky, shining brightly through the dirtied window.

* * *

**(( For a dev blog featuring progress, updates, and theorycrafting on the story as I continue it along, please visit princess-paola . livejournal . com ))**

* * *


	35. Silver Inches

The only reason Vyse slept at all that night was due to his utter exhaustion. As soon as he hit the pillow he fell into a deep slumber, as if he'd been struck against the back of the head and knocked completely unconscious. However, when the early morning rolled around and pale sunlight just barely began to filter into the _Delphinus'_ port, he slowly stirred awake and gradually became aware of somebody watching him. Blinking open his eyes, he sat up and looked over, and that is when he saw Piastol in her bounty hunting armor, sitting patiently in a chair in the corner.

"If you want to kill me, you should do it while I'm still asleep," he said.

She turned her head to regard him, frowning. "I'm not here to kill you."

"Then...what _are_ you doing?" he asked, feeling a bit awkward. "Is it normal for you to watch people sleeping?"

She gave him a look, but he only shrugged at her in return. After a moment, she merely shook her head.

"No, I...simply wanted to speak to you before you left."

He blinked. "What about?"

"That man who attacked us the night before...I recognized him. His name was Ramirez, wasn't it?" she asked.

Vyse nodded. "Do you believe us now when we say it was Ramirez who killed your family?"

Piastol was silent for a moment. "I saw how he moved. I watched how he fought. That man...he's a demon. The fire, the bodies...it was like the _Aquila_, but on an even grander scale. He's nothing like the young soldier I remember, the gentle soul who would tell stories to my sister and I. But I now have no doubt in my heart whatsoever that that was the man who heartlessly slew my family ten years ago. I..." She hesitated.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"...I...apologize."

Vyse was momentarily stricken by the fact that she would even bother apologizing. But then he began to laugh, and when she glared at him, he simply smiled. "We already forgave you, Piastol. We understand. We always did."

"Just like that..." She shook her head, incredulously, then regained her stony composure. "...Regardless. You said people who stayed on this island had to pull their weight. So I'm setting sail."

He blinked. "You believe us now, but you're leaving?"

"Coming to terms with my past is exactly _why _I'm leaving," Piastol said. "I've got a new target now: Ramirez. He's going to pay for destroying the _Aquila_, and for threatening Maria here on this island with his attack. And if I cannot reach him, then picking off members of Galcian's traitor Armada will suffice. I'll hurt him however I can. But I'll be pulling my weight."

"You're going to hunt the defectors? Alone?" Vyse shook his head. "You should stay with us. We're going to wind up doing the same thing anyway."

But Piastol was firm. "I have to do this, for myself. Everything will be absolved this way. Please understand."

"Heh. You're crazier than I am." He grinned.

To that, Piastol stood, and nodded to him respectfully. "Thank you, Vyse, for your kindness. It was undeserved, but...I appreciate it nevertheless."

"Hey, stay safe," he replied. "Maria will be sad if her big sister doesn't come back."

She smiled, wanly. "I will. Good luck; you'll need it more than I."

And then she was gone, vanished into the shadows of the room.

Finding himself wide awake, Vyse rolled out of bed and threw on a fresh pair of clothes, belting on his cutlasses afterwards. He stretched his limbs, somewhat smoothed out his hair (but didn't brush it, because he didn't care), and then ambled out into the heart of the ship, wandering aimlessly through the _Delphinus'_ hallways.

Though she was wounded considerably, she now served as the only shelter his crew had. While Clara's and Gilder's crews slept on the _Primrose_ and the _Claudia_ respectively, his own crew likewise holed up in their bunks on board the _Delphinus_. For a moment, the rogue captain felt a twinge of guilt; he'd be gone on a trip while his crew labored to both repair the _Delphinus_ and rebuild the island. He hated the thought of leaving all the hard work to them, but neither could he refuse Fina's request to follow her to the Shrine. Like her, he wanted answers.

His wandering took him to the galley, which he found eerily quiet and empty. He meandered into the kitchen and idly browsed the cupboards, looking for alcohol of some sort. It was rare for him to drink so early in the morning, but he was nervous and wanted something to calm his racing mind. Just then, he heard someone come up behind him, and turned to find Gilder, who grinned lopsidedly and held up a small jug of rum.

"Looking for this?"

Vyse grimaced. "Is that the last of it?"

"'Fraid so." Gilder was wry. "You all wound up too?"

"Heh. How did you know?" Vyse leaned up against the side of a counter. "Don't tell anyone, but I'm actually really nervous."

"Bah." Gilder waved his free hand dismissively, then handed him the bottle of rum. Vyse found it three-quarters empty, but gratefully drank what he could from it. "I think we all are, kiddo. I mean, it's not every day you go waltzing into the home of an ancient people who are ten times smarter than you are, and who can apparently kill you with a thought. Not exactly comforting, you know?"

Vyse winced. "Geez, when you put it like that..."

Gilder chuckled. "Hah, well, I might be over exaggerating. I mean, look at Fina. She's so shy and quiet. How bad can these folks really be?"

Vyse turned serious. "They've been lying to her, Gilder."

"We don't know that." Gilder frowned slightly. "It could just be Ramirez trying to toy with us. Let's not jump to conclusions and make ourselves even more enemies until we've heard all sides of the story."

Vyse sighed. "I guess you're right."

"Anyways, let's not get ourselves smashed here." Gilder took the bottle from him and placed it back in the pantry. "The girls are already up. We should join them."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess there's no reason to waste time in getting out of here." Vyse rubbed the back of his neck. "Let's go."

Together, the two rogues made their way out of the _Delphinus_ and back outside to the surface of the island, where the sun greeted them with a bright glare. Birds roosted in what few trees remained standing, chirping merrily as they flitted about. Several people from all three crews were already awake, moving about the island as they set to work clearing more debris and hauling the remaining supplies off the ships. Vyse was surprised so many had woken up early when he'd always run a relatively loose ship, but was grateful for it nevertheless. The mood was generally positive, and there was nothing better for them right now than high morale.

They spotted Aika and Fina on the far side of the island, sitting on the levee overlooking the water as they simply talked. When the two of them approached, Aika flashed them a small smile and Fina stood to bow slightly to them, smoothing out her skirts as she did so.

"Good morning, Vyse, Gilder," she said.

"Heya," Vyse replied. "Are we ready to go?"

"We were just waiting on you two sleepyheads." Aika smirked. "You awake enough to fly?"

Vyse grinned. "Always. But I just need to track a few people down first and get the rebuilding effort organized before--"

"Clara said she'll be taking care of things while we're away," Gilder said. "She'll be overseeing the reconstruction and looking out for everyone. I know it seems kind of odd, but if it's one thing that woman can do, it's organize. Your crew will be in...relatively good hands."

"I'm surprised your men will listen to her," Aika remarked.

"Hey, they've got their priorities straight." Gilder shrugged. "First the base. Then we'll worry about Clara herself."

"Haha."

"Well, that takes care of that, then." Vyse laughed a little. "I trust her. And I trust I won't come home to a pink base."

"Now _that_ I couldn't guarantee you. But she's the best and only option we have right now." Gilder gestured to the _Vesper, _still waiting patiently where Fina had anchored it behind them two days before. "Shall we?"

Fina nodded. "Ah, yes. Of course."

Comfortably, Fina slid into the _Vesper_ and gestured for them to do the same. They climbed in with a bit more trouble, unsure of how one properly entered such a strange ship to begin with, but eventually settled behind her as she began to work at the console to bring the ship to life. A faint light shimmered around them and then vanished, and for a moment Vyse thought he had simply imagined things until Aika asked what it was.

"It's a shield," Fina replied. "It will protect us as we rise through the atmosphere, and will enable us to keep breathing."

"Protect us from the what?" Aika boggled.

"Uhm...never mind. Here we go!"

The _Vesper_ hummed quietly beneath them, then suddenly shot off in a shower of sparks, blazing into the sky faster than anything Vyse had ever seen before. The three gave startled cries as they were thrown backwards by the abrupt movement, collapsing into a jumble of limbs at the back of the ship as it tilted itself sharply upwards. Fina looked back over her shoulder and giggled at them, casting them an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry. I guess I should have warned you."

Aika grinned. "It's okay! Go as fast as you want!"

"Ow. My leg..." Gilder grumbled.

The rogues untangled themselves and carefully stood, cautiously testing their footing as the sleek craft rocketed along. Vyse turned and looked back behind them, and gawked when he discovered that Crescent Isle was already a tiny rock far below, so far away that he couldn't even make out any details on the surface. Then it vanished into the horizon, and clouds materialized to swallow the ship, flying by in gray streaks of mist. _Vesper _pierced them like an arrow, unhindered by neither wind nor gravity.

They punched through the clouds and continued to climb. The islands and reefs vanished beneath them as if being swallowed whole by the sky, which itself began to rapidly change from a pale blue to a deep, cool indigo. Amazed, Vyse looked up and saw stars begin to speckle the upper horizon; the sun seemed huge and impossibly bright, and yet somehow it failed to illuminate the heavens anymore. It was as though they were outrunning the day itself.

They punched through another, thinner cloud layer, and Fina increased the speed a little more. They flew so high that Vyse could look down and see Valua and Nasr at the same time, and stared at it in wonder. He could pick out landmarks, could trace the coastlines of the entire continents, could see where the sky rifts flowed around them like raging rivers and where the stone reefs stood like massive, crumbling walls. It was incredible.

And then there came a bright flash of light as the ship surged forward, and when next Vyse could see again, he found himself in a different world entirely.

They hovered in the nighttime sky. The stars were above and below and all around, and he could see all of the moons at once. They were bigger than he ever imagined, glowing softly in the velvety blackness. Each one was different; the surface of the Red Moon shifted and churned, as if it were liquid – or perhaps on fire. Adjacent to it, the Yellow Moon surged and flashed, covered in raging thunderstorms. In the distance, the Green Moon's surface was dappled and shadowed, as if it was completely carpeted in a dense forest. Far beyond it, the Blue and Purple Moons hovered like glass orbs, coated in thick sheets of ice. And above them, the Silver Moon was positively enormous, so close that Vyse felt like he could reach out and touch it. He could make out every detail on its surface, from the rise and fall of its barren mountains to the enormous island-sized craters marring its surface. It took his breath away.

All six of the moons silently watched over Arcadia. Yes, it had to have been Arcadia – the planet in all its entirety. It was a flickering blue and gray sphere so large that it blew his mind, alive with swirling clouds and the writhing of the sky rifts. He could see the giant eye of the Vortex, spinning lazily far below; he could see the fingers of the Dark Rift, and his eyes widened as he realized just how far its black tendrils wrapped around the planet; he could see Valua, Nasr and Mid Ocean all at once, and couldn't even begin to pick out the individual islands in between them. All of the sudden, Vyse felt tiny and completely insignificant, and his breath came out in an awed sort of sigh.

_Vesper _slowed and then began to hover, floating quietly above sleepy Arcadia. Vyse heard Fina turn but could not tear his eyes away from the sight below them, well aware that his mouth was hanging open.

"Vyse...you said you wanted to know what lies beyond the sunset," Fina said, softly. "This...this is it."

"I...I don't even know what to say..." Aika breathed. "This is the most incredible thing ever. We're almost as high as the Moons..."

"Could we...actually walk on them?" Gilder asked after a moment, carefully considering the satellites in the distance. "Or would that make them mad?"

"Some of them, you could probably walk upon," Fina replied. "The Red Moon would incinerate you, and the Yellow Moon is too violent, but the others are solid. But they are sacred. We wouldn't dare set foot on them."

"And they're...they're fine with us being this high?" Aika asked, uncertainly. "I remember hearing a tale when I was a little girl that people could not fly without ships because the Moons did not want us to be as high as they were in the sky."

"Not at all." Fina laughed softly, then pointed above them to the Silver Moon. "Look up there. The Great Silver Shrine is right above us. The Silver Moon has protected us for generations, even though we live so close."

In unison, the three looked up. There, high above their heads, floated a strange object, something like a squat, eight-sided box that spun slowly on an invisible axis. It was easily several miles wide and made of materials Vyse had never seen before; he could only guess it was mythril, for it was white and metallic, and shone when the sunlight refracted off one of its flat faces. It was covered in millions of tiny green and gold circuit lines that pulsed and glowed at irregular intervals, and was split lengthwise down its middle with a wide black belt of..._something_. He wasn't sure what it was. It didn't look like a window to him, but it had a glassy tiled surface, and it absorbed all of the light around it.

Words failed him completely.

Fina set the ship into motion again, and they floated effortlessly upwards, rising to the glittering shrine above them. As they drew closer, Vyse could pick out more details in the bizarre building, which almost seemed more like some sort of machine rather than a house or, he supposed, a city. Its size alone was utterly tremendous, certainly greater than the Grand Fortress, and he surmised that three or four Fortresses could actually fit inside. He couldn't figure out how the Silvites had gotten it to float.

At the bottom of the shrine was a huge hexagonal hole. Fina slowed the ship and slipped it inside, pulling it into a dark, cavernous hangar that Vyse realized was the shrine's port. Three tiers of glittering silver ships, all in different shapes and sizes, rose above them into the darkness, reflecting the unearthly green glow that only dimly illuminated the entirety of the harbor. It came from strange, tube-shaped bolts of glass hung at regular intervals on the support pillars, seeming to create more shadows than it did light.

As Fina pulled the ship into the first empty slip she could find, Vyse looked back down through the hole and noticed a pale, translucent green barrier covering it that he hadn't seen seconds before, similar to the one that encompassed the cockpit of the _Vesper_. Gently, Fina settled the ship down and then switched off the engine, and the bubble around them vanished, sending a blast of cool, stale, unnaturally metallic-scented air rushing in to replace it. He coughed a bit in surprise, then carefully climbed out of the _Vesper_ and paused to look around. The docks were deserted, and eerily quiet; only a quiet, rhythmic whining noise somewhere in the distance filled the air.

"Don't worry. The barrier acts as an airlock. It protects us from the vacuum, and allows us to breathe," Fina said, joining them on the docks. When they gave her confused expressions, she blushed and bowed her head. "I...I don't know how else to explain it. I'm sorry."

"These are the docks, then?" Aika asked, her voice echoing for what seemed like an eternity.

"Yes. They weren't always here. I heard they were modified into a missing piece of the shrine," Fina replied. "We don't use them very often. We really have no reason to sail."

"You don't need a reason!" Vyse replied, shocked. "Don't you guys sail just for fun?"

Fina smiled sadly. "There are many things we're missing out on, Vyse. Here, follow me. Let's go inside, where it's warmer."

Turning, Fina walked down the docks a ways, towards a large disk in the floor that glowed a pale blue. When she stepped on it, the disk flashed and she abruptly vanished, and the three rogues stopped and hesitated, exchanging glances with each other. After a moment, they warily followed.

The world turned to white mist around Vyse. When it flashed back into solidity, he found himself standing in a small, white-walled foyer, on top of an identical blue disk. A square door led to a short hallway, but he could not see beyond it. The whining noise had become more pronounced, and he could hear soft voices echoing hollowly in the distance; the air smelled even more strongly of metal, and it made him uncomfortable.

Fina was standing a little ahead of them, her head bowed as she collected herself. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep, quivering breath; Vyse could practically feel her heart pounding nervously in her chest and frowned. Then, jerking her head up, the Silvite steeled herself and boldly stepped forward. After some hesitation, they followed.

The hall did not go on for long, and ended in a long walkway made of green glass that sloped sharply upwards. Everything abruptly opened up into the heart of the shrine; it was a tall lobby easily hundreds of feet across and just as many high, ringed by tiers, different landings, that scaled up to the roof. Each landing in turn branched off to other rooms and hallways, far beyond Vyse's ability to zoom in on and study, a virtual labyrinth that encompassed several stories. Crystalline railings that shimmered a strange pearl color bordered each floor, presumably to keep those traversing them from falling off.

A colossal pillar rose in the center of the room, serving as support for the ceiling. At the top of it was some sort of ornate structure Vyse couldn't quite make out, and winding all around it, up and down and almost literally in knots, was the strange green walkway, which tumbled its way back and forth across the lobby to connect the different levels. The ceiling, the walls, the floor – everything was made of mythril and positively covered in circuitry, to the point where it struck him as gaudy. The lines in the walls glowed and everything was lit brightly with a strange fluorescent white light, the source of which he couldn't determine.

Things were sparsely decorated at best, which surprised him. Long banners of white, silver, gold, and dark blue hung down along the support pillars between the many floors, displaying an alien writing he did not recognize or the different phases of the Moons. Large moonstone prisms of all colors hovered in what seemed to be random places in midair, spinning slowly with no apparent purpose. A vast window in the ceiling opened the shrine to the twinkling nighttime sky, but the Silver Moon dominated much of the view. From above, two pillars of water cascaded down and fell into pools at the foot of the central column, whose surfaces were otherwise still as glass, and from which emerged silver moonstone crystals in their natural form.

And everywhere, drifting everywhere, like angels, were Silvites. They were all dressed in white clothing with gold trim; some women wore veils, others did not; some people were followed by Cupil variants, and others were alone. They had flowing, fine hair that ranged from blond to white, and were slender and pale and relatively short in stature. As far away as they were, they did not notice that darker beings had entered their sanctum, and so floated about their way solemnly, moving across the winding path and along the many tiers, up into infinity.

It was strange for Vyse to suddenly see so many of them. Fina had been the only Silvite he'd known, and after a while it'd begun to feel like she was the only Silvite in the world. But they thrived, apparently, and here in this unnatural city in the sky, there were hundreds, perhaps even thousands of them. He began to wonder just how many had survived.

But something bothered him, and left him feeling tremendously uncomfortable. For all its wonders, he didn't like the shrine – yet he couldn't place why.

A sudden metallic clanking broke him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see two men running down the path for them. They wore long, sweeping white coats and were decked lightly in silver armor so finely polished that it was nearly as mirrorlike as the _Vesper_. They were roughly the same height as each other; the older-looking one had platinum hair that swept down to his waist, and the younger had almost gray hair about the length of Vyse's, parted to reveal a triangular tattoo on his forehead. They both had green eyes and, to his complete shock, swords eerily similar to Ramirez's drawn in their hands. Without thinking, Vyse reached for the hilt of the cutlass at his waist but Fina shook her head frantically at him, signaling him to hold.

"Fina!" the long-haired man called, in shock. "What is this? Who are those people? Outsiders are forbidden in the shrine!"

"Reyth!" she cried, then, looking to the short-haired one, "Celor! What are you doing? You don't need to draw your swords!"

As the two finally caught up, they stood in place blocking the path and eyed the three rogues critically. Aika returned their gaze with defiance, but Vyse only gave an even stare in return, and Gilder rewarded them with a practiced frown.

The long haired one, Reyth, shook his head. "No need? They're violent, Fina. There's a reason the Elders do not allow them in here."

"They're my friends!" she protested.

"Rules are rules, Fina," Celor replied, quietly. "It is our duty to enforce them. I'm sorry."

"I don't care!"

The two flinched at that, stunned.

"Wh-what?" Reyth stammered.

"I said I don't care!" Fina clenched her fists, tightly. "We need to speak to the Elders, right away!"

"What's so important that you need to bring Island Dwellers here?" Celor asked, carefully. "We knew your brother better than we knew you, but I never knew you to break the rules, Fina."

"It's because of my brother that we're here," she replied.

The two looked at each other, then brightened. "So Ramir is alive! Where is he?"

Fina shook her head, slowly. "No...my brother is...Ramir is dead."

"Ramir is..." Reyth looked pained. "We...trained with him. He was the best warrior we had. I can't...imagine him dead. That's not possible."

"Reyth. Celor." Fina's voice was gentle, but firm. "Something terrible is about to happen, and even we are in danger now. Please. We _have_ to speak to the Elders. I fear we don't have much time."

The two warriors exchanged glances, then sighed and sheathed their swords. Stepping forward, they brushed past her and approached Vyse, Aika and Gilder to study them, their green eyes intense and calculating.

"You're from the islands?" Celor asked, standing toe-to-toe with Vyse.

"That's right," Vyse replied, frowning. "Is something the matter with that? I didn't expect such a cold reception."

"Your hair...and your eyes. You're all so dark." Reyth paused, considering Gilder. "...And scraggly. Like animals, almost."

"What?!" Aika cried, indignantly. "What's the big idea, calling us animals? Who do you think you are, anyway?"

"So loud. So...unrestrained." Celor frowned, looking uncomfortable. "They're going to disrupt everything."

"Listen, guys." Gilder folded his arms across his chest, impatiently. "We went through a lot of trouble to help your friend Fina here gather the Moon Crystals. Where were you two when she was out risking her life for your people? Hm? I think we've earned the right to walk in here."

Reyth looked to Fina. "Is that true?"

She nodded. "I owe my life to these people, Reyth."

He sighed. "Let's just escort them, brother. If we take their weapons, they won't be able to do any harm. It's not as though the Island Dwellers know magic."

Aika opened her mouth to reply, but Vyse discreetly stepped on her foot to silence her.

"Mmf. Very well. I hope you know how much trouble you're getting us in to." Celor frowned, then held out his hand expectantly. "Your swords, Island-Dweller. And nothing funny. I assure you I will hit you long before you ever hit me."

Vyse sighed, unbuckling his sheathed cutlasses and reluctantly handing them over. "Why can't you guys believe that we're not here to cause problems? We really are here to help."

Aika frowned and removed her boomerang, and Gilder likewise pulled the pistols from his belt and gave them over. The two Silvite warriors studied the weapons for a moment incredulously, then simply shook their heads, slung them over their shoulders, and began to walk up the path.

"...Follow us. And stay close."

Fina shot an apologetic look back at the three of them, and followed.

"Great place. Love the locals," Gilder murmured under his breath.

"I don't understand. Fina's so kind. But these guys are jerks," Aika replied, between her teeth.

"They've been separated from the islands for so long. We must seem really, really strange to them," Vyse murmured in return. "Try not to give it too much thought. Remember how the Yafutomans first reacted to us? But they were as polite and honorable as people come."

Aika sighed. "I hope you're right. C'mon, let's go. They're already getting ahead of us."

The three jogged to catch up to the Silvites, who hadn't noticed that they'd gotten behind. Together, the six of them slowly wound their way up the strange glass path, and Vyse passed the time by studying each landing as they went by. Now, out in the open, the colorful strangers stood out in stark contrast to the rest of their milky-pale surroundings. The Silvites drifting along the tiers stopped and leaned over the railings to watch, whispering speculatively between each other. Vyse felt uncomfortable with several dozen pairs of green eyes upon him, and tried his best to ignore them.

On one of the landings, through an open door, he caught a glimpse with his goggle of a few people practicing spells with the same ease Fina did. Through another, he saw more warriors who looked just like Celor and Reyth. Through a third, he noticed a Silvite woman reading from a long, flat disc to a small gathering of young children, who all looked the exact same age. That struck him as a little odd, and he realized that they were the only children he had yet to see in the shrine. Most of the Silvites either seemed to be young adults or well into their middle ages, but nothing in between.

When they had gotten about halfway up the shrine, they turned to where the path abruptly ended, with only two short posts on either side serving as a warning. Celor laid a had against a white dome-shaped object atop one of them and suddenly floated into the air, gracefully turning until he stood, upside-down, on the path above them. Reyth and Fina did the same, and then gazed down at the Arcadians expectantly.

"What is it?" Aika asked.

"The gravity in here is not as strong as it is on the planet, because it's artificially simulated by the spinning of the shrine," Reyth replied. "This anti-gravity device manipulates the weak gravity by suspending it for short distances. In other words, it's a shortcut."

"Unless you wish to walk the entire Path of Emptiness?" Celor asked, with a raised brow.

Vyse followed Aika's gaze as it momentarily wound up the path ahead, all the way to the ceiling.

"...No thanks," she said, then pressed the button, gave a small cry of surprise, and found herself standing beside them seconds later. Vyse and Gilder shrugged at each other, and followed.

At first, walking upside-down was a bit disconcerting, especially as other people moved rightside-up on the path directly above (or was it below now?) them. Vyse was quick to give up on trying to make sense of things, keeping his eyes forward so as not to get dizzy as he followed the Silvites downwards – which was actually upwards, as far as he could tell. The more he thought about it, the more it made his head hurt, so he thought instead of the building at the end of the road, and what it might have contained within.

They switched paths a few more times as they moved along, sometimes walking rightside-up, and others the opposite. The trip seemed to take forever, and he wondered why the Silvites, for all their advanced technology, did not simply have a way to teleport up to the top – or even something as simple as an elevator.

Finally, however, after what felt like hours, they reached the outside of a tall, hexagonal building that was decorated in circuit lines made from pure silver. They shimmered softly in the light of the Silver Moon, as if the light itself were blood flowing through chrome veins. It had no windows, and the only door seemed to be made of pure green light so intense that it was solid. It was here the two warriors stopped, and turned to face them.

"You are about to enter the Chamber of the Elders," Celor said. "We expect you to treat them with the same respect and honor as you would give your island kings."

"To be fair, the three of us are pirates," Gilder said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "We don't have kings, and we rather like it that way. But for what it's worth, we'll treat your elders like they're our captains. How's that?"

The two warriors exchanged glances, shook their heads, and then turned towards the door. With a soft hiss, it spiraled open, revealing a dark chamber on the other side. Bowing their heads, they and Fina stepped through and, after a moment's hesitation, the Blue Rogues followed.

The inner chamber was wide, with a tall ceiling that rose up into shadow. Most of the room was cast in blackness, lit only by the dim green glow of the seal of the Silver Moon etched into the glass floor. Below them, pulsing like a beating heart, was pure silver energy, spiraling together much like the eye of the great Vortex now so far away. As the two warriors strode out into the center of the room, however, six torches came to life with cool white flames, casting light upon a frail old man sitting on the far end of the room.

He could have been seventy years old, or he could have been one hundred – it was hard to tell. He looked frail, and his milky skin looked paper-thin, but he held himself with dignity and seemed to simply..._exude_ power. The last of his hair had clearly fallen away ages ago, now leaving only a shiny bald crown in its place. His green eyes were dark with age, surrounded by bunches of wrinkles from a wizened face, but they sparkled with both mirth and intelligence as they regarded the crowd assembled before him. He wore heavy white robes trimmed in what looked to Vyse like metallic gold thread, and black robes under those; a blanket of a similar material was draped over his knees, decorated in little golden crescent moons. He sat in a metal chair that hovered slightly off the ground, but did not rise to greet them as they approached, instead simply dipping his head in a slow nod.

"Ah...the Alioth brothers. You bring guests, I see," he said.

The two bowed deeply. "Elder Prime, please forgive our intrusion. Fina has returned, and she's brought Island-Dwellers with her," Reyth said.

"So I see." Elder Prime smiled a little. "Leave us, Reyth, Celor. I have much to discuss with these ones."

"Of course, Elder Prime. We'll be just outside." The brothers bowed again, then stepped backwards into the center of the silver seal and vanished in a few balls of silvery light.

Elder Prime then turned his gaze on to Fina, who clasped her hands over her chest with slight unease. Slowly, a smile spread across his wrinkled face; as he spoke, the lights in the room brightened, revealing four other similarly-dressed old men seated around them on all sides, behind large, diamond-shaped panes of glassy crystal.

"Fina Selvarn...welcome home."

"Elders...Prime, Halos, Orbis, Cross, Stout." She bowed to each in turn as she spoke their names, until she was facing Prime again. "I...I'd like to introduce you to my friends. This is Vyse Dyne, Aika Nakal, and Gilder VanWoert, of the Blue Rogues. They helped me in my mission to collect the Moon Crystals. I would not be standing here before you today, were it not for them."

"Island Dwellers!" piped Orbis, his voice echoing from across the room. "How amusing. You confided in Island Dwellers."

"My my, how times have changed..." mused Cross. "I've never actually seen a modern Arcadian up close. Have you?"

"Not I," responded Halos. "Hard to tell what stock they're descended from, nowadays."

Vyse stuck his tongue in his cheek and bit down on it, to make sure he wouldn't say anything. He was already tired of feeling like he was underneath a magnifying glass, but he forced himself to be patient, and remained respectfully quiet.

"You have the crystals, then," Elder Prime said, smiling. "That is most excellent news. Where are they?"

Fina shook her head. "No, Elder. I _had_ the crystals. My brother attacked us and stole them."

That sent a wave of shock rippling among the five old men, who began to talk amongst themselves as if their guests were no longer there.

"So Ramir _has_ turned..."

"We feared the worst when he stopped contacting us..."

"He was so loyal when he was in the shrine. I can't imagine what made him change..."

"Will the seal break if the sixth crystal is still in his hand? If he awakens Zelos, it would be...problematic."

"Elders..." Fina called. "Elders!"

The Elders paused in their conversation and turned as one to look at her. She swallowed thickly, then took a step forward, leveling her gaze on Elder Prime. "Ramir told me the crystals had the power to call down the Rains of Destruction. He said _our people_ were the ones who destroyed the world long ago. Is this true?"

Prime smiled sadly. "So, Fina...you've learned the truth at last."

Vyse felt a terrible pit form in his stomach. He looked to Gilder and Aika, both of whom returned his gaze uneasily.

"Wh-why...?" Fina whispered. "Why did you lie to me?"

"I will explain. I'll explain everything, in fact." Prime patted his chair, and it rose from the ground, floating forward towards them. "Simply remain standing there on the glyph. It can teleport us anywhere in the shrine we wish to go. I have set it to take us to the Halls of Knowledge."

"Hey, wait a minute," Aika began, as the seal beneath their feet began to glow. Vyse felt a strange tingling sensation in his body, and braced himself as the world began to fade to white. "What's going on? I don't like th--"

When the world returned to solidity, Vyse found himself floating in a chamber the likes of which he had never seen before. The room could have been called cavernous for its sheer immensity, its roof mapped out with all the stars in the sky and various constellations, looming a good seventy feet or so above them and animating as if it were the true sky. From it hung a whole manner of astrolabes, scales, and other strange arcane instruments crafted from gold and bronze, all orbiting around a large glowing orb in the center that shifted with ethereal lights of every color imaginable. What looked to be bookshelves were carved into every wall and stood in neat rows all around, positively overflowing with strange thin cases and even a few books; even though they were scarce compared to the the former, Vyse had never seen so many tomes in his life! Scattered all over the glassy floor were a myriad of work tables, some teetering under the weight of books, and others covered in magical instruments that Vyse couldn't even begin to fathom.

It was the center of the room, however, that truly caught his eye, for there rested a strange device that resembled a large bowl made from a few bars of steel. In its core rested a few natural moonstone crystals, but it didn't appear to simply be there for a decorative purpose. It ate at his curiosity.

Strangely enough, for all its size, the room appeared to be completely empty in terms of visitors. The rogue decided that was just as well, as the four of them were floating out of control again just as they had in the Dark Rift, and he really wasn't in the mood to make a fool of himself in front of more Silvites.

"Oh, bother. Seems the gravity was disabled in this room." Elder Prime scratched his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then made a pass with his hand. All of the sudden, Vyse got heavier again and plummeted to the floor, and Aika and Gilder noisily crash-landed somewhere behind him. Cupil caught Fina as she fell, but Elder Prime was spared by his mysterious floating chair, and didn't seem to notice he'd just dropped four people out of the sky without a second thought. "Now, let me see here, let me see...ah. There. Follow me, please." And then he turned and floated off, gliding over the floor towards the strange contraption in the center.

"This guided tour leaves much to be desired..." Gilder grunted, scraping himself off the floor.

"You think he's trying to kill us?" Aika mumbled, sorely shaking herself off.

"There's easier ways he could do that," Gilder replied.

"He's just...very absent-minded. He didn't used to be so bad until he hit a hundred and five or so..." Fina replied.

"A hundred and five? How old is he now?" Vyse boggled.

Fina smiled a little. "He'll be one hundred and eleven next moon."

"Yeesh. That old? No wonder these guys are so grumpy." Gilder stuffed his hands in his pockets, and began to amble off after the Elder. After a moment, the others followed.

When they had caught up to Elder Prime, he bade them to gather around the strange circular object and began to work at a transparent grid-like panel that seemed to appear from out of nowhere. The machine abruptly came to life after several minutes, projecting a ghostly image of Arcadia into the air. The three rogues stared at it in awe, watching as the planet spun and the moons followed it.

"It's...different." Vyse realized, staring at the planet. "There...below Valua and Nasr. There's another continent."

Prime nodded. "That is Soltis. At one point in time, it was our home."

"What is this, then?" Aika asked, studying both the image and the object that projected it.

"We are in the Halls of Knowledge," Prime replied. "This is our library, restricted to a select group of people. It is here that we've been chronicling Arcadia's history for centuries, recording each and every event that comes to pass. All the knowledge, all the secrets of the world, both Old and New, can be found here."

"Heh. Wow." Gilder swept his gaze around the room, taking it in for a second time. "Some say knowledge is more valuable than gold. If that's true, we just hit the jackpot."

"Elder, why...have I never been here before?" Fina asked, after a moment.

"Because," Prime replied, "You were not ready to learn. Your brother developed much faster than you did, even with the age difference between you two kept in mind. But now I see you are beginning to figure things out on your own, and that means that it is time. Gaze into the projector, Fina, Island Dwellers. Look not with your eyes, but with your hearts. You will not see history here – you will live it. You will walk with the Ancients, and witness the great war firsthand."

He tapped the grid, and the image zoomed in on the planet, close enough to display a roughly circular-shaped continent and the glittering white city that spanned almost the entirety of it. The city looked to be protected by six towers and six beacons set at regular intervals, but at its heart rose a spire so tall, so massive, that it nearly touched the upper cloud layer. Sitting atop it was the Great Silver Shrine.

Vyse suddenly felt drawn to the image, completely transfixed. It was as if he was caught in a daydream, and when he finally looked away, he found himself standing on a green glass walkway just like the path outside, on a long road stretching on forever, down to the tower rising impossibly high above him. Aika, Fina and Gilder stood at his side, confused. People, dressed like Silvites but with hair and skin more akin to that of modern Meridians, walked by them as they went about their daily activities, but they did not seem to notice that Vyse and the others were there. Vyse wasn't sure if they or the Silvites were ghosts.

"This continent was once the heart of what you now call Meridia, or Mid Ocean," came Elder Prime's disembodied voice. "For a thousand years and countless generations, the Silvite people lived and thrived on Soltis and its surrounding islands,"

The image changed again; Vyse, Aika and Gilder stared in awe as they found themselves walking on familiar islands with beautiful white buildings and towers on them – Cape Claudia, Pirate Isle, and even Sailor's Isle were all bastions of Silvite civilization.

"And as we grew and learned and evolved," Prime said, "so too did the other peoples beneath the other moons. At first, we did not know anyone else was out there. But then the Yashi, the people of the Green Civilization, perfected the art of sailing and in turn, found us."

The four of them suddenly found themselves standing on the coast of Soltis, among a large gathering of people. Behind them was a whole crowd of Silvites, headed by six elaborately-garbed, white-haired people. Across from them were a handful of others standing on the deck of a sleek wooden ship with colorful sails. They looked like Ixa'Takans, but they were far less primitive; they wore beautiful feather headdresses and brightly-colored robes trimmed with exotic animal furs.

"The Yashi began as the most advanced of the six civilizations. They were roughly nine-hundred years ahead of our people before we met," Prime explained. "They were brilliant astronomers, mathematicians, and engineers. We learned much from them, and our own society rapidly advanced. However, as our cultures were vastly different, we were not as close of allies as we could have been. We went our separate ways."

The Ixa'Takans turned and sailed away, and the world around them changed. Now they crossed the desert in a large caravan procession alongside a man and a woman who looked Nasrean, plodding steadily towards a golden city built on the shores of a great river. Their hair was tightly woven into hundreds of small braids, and decorated with colorful glass beads. The woman wore a light red robe cinched around her waist with a long golden belt, and the man wore a kilt of the same color. He had a gold and maroon headdress upon his head that draped over his shoulders, and wore upon his chin what looked to be a false beard. In the distance, the Temple of Pyrynn rose against the granite mountainside, in the process of being built.

"The Deshret of the Red Civilization befriended the Yashiri, and also learned much from them. They adopted the Yashi art of pyramid building and even developed it farther. Their society also produced talented mathematicians and engineers, as well as the world's first mages. From the Deshret, all of us learned how to harness the powers of our Moons, and the Silvite people advanced spellcraft in leaps and bounds. We began to travel with the other two civilizations, exploring and spreading our knowledge around the world."

Now the four of them stood in an amphitheater of sorts, resting on a non-descript island. A small group of Silvites, Yashi and Deshret stood talking with two groups of foreign people. The first were unmistakably Yafutoman, identical to the pictures Vyse had seen in Daigo's temple. They wore the same long, floral-patterned robes, with their hair neatly pinned up atop their heads. The second were a man and a woman who looked Valuan. Compared to the others, they were dressed quite simply in one-piece yellow robes, their wild hair pulled back into thick braids, with olive branches interwoven down the sides. What few decorations they had seemed to have been made from the pale scales of a Tartas, or from their horns and teeth.

"When we met the Aoijin, the people of the Blue Civilization, we were introduced to a world of art and culture. They were a society of deep thought, of philosophy, creativity, balance, and imagination. Our beliefs were much the same, and our two peoples formed a friendship that would last many years. The Croceus of the Yellow Civilization were in contrast the most primitive of our societies at the time. They were reclusive, and wanted little to do with anyone. We shared our knowledge with them for a time, but then they retreated underground and we heard little from them afterwards."

The world dissolved into white. Vyse found himself standing atop a snowy peak, where the purple moon bled cold light into a darkened sky, and ghostly ribbons of color – an aurora – rippled overhead. Beside him, gazing down upon a fleet of dark ships, were people he recognized as Arnora Ronir and the man from the hologram inside of Polaris.

"For the most part, all was well until the Glacians, the cold-hearted children of the Purple Moon, learned to sail," Prime said. "When they left their lands and discovered the vast world beyond it, they decided they had to claim it – all of it – as their own. They were a society of fierce warriors and battle magi, who believed that those who died in battle went to live upon the Purple Moon as immortals. It was from them that all our troubles began."

Suddenly, things became chaos. Vyse fought alongside the Silvites as the Glacians poured into Soltis; he crouched in the jungle alongside the Yashi, waiting to strike; he raced across the desert in a chariot alongside the Deshret, charging the Glacian front line; he stood upon the Great Wall and shot at the encroaching Glacian wave with an enchanted bow and arrow; and he swooped down into the heart of their troops on the back of a mighty Tartas, rending them with axe and spear. They fought both on land and in the air, wielding weapons and magics Vyse had never seen before, and seemed innumerable.

"At first, their attacks were little more than raids that we could repel with relative ease. Skirmishes were commonplace along the coast. But for each counter one of our societies developed for the Glacian attacks, the Glacians themselves figured out a different way to outsmart us. They were tenacious, relentless, and eventually began to overwhelm the nations with smaller armies. Anunket and Draegos, what you know today as Nasr and Valua respectively, were invaded and nearly conquered. Finally, we banded together with the other Moon Kingdoms, and in one great battle, drove the Glacians back to the Frozen Lands."

For a moment, the world faded to black. Then a feeling of deja-vu settled upon the rogue, and he found himself standing in a familiar chamber – the one from Rhaknam's memories. Magi similar to those who had tormented him stood in a circle around a huge chunk of raw purple moonstone crystal, channeling their power into it until they nearly collapsed from exhaustion, eerily still and deathly pale.

"The Glacians were furious," Prime said. "They were determined to exact revenge upon the five kingdoms and conquer them in the process. Centuries passed as they brooded and licked their wounds, all the while working upon a great experiment – the Purple Moon Crystal. When at last it was complete, their queen at the time, Arnora Ronir, took the experiment a step farther and implanted the crystal into a living creature, hoping to create an intelligent weapon of mass destruction that she would have absolute control over. Thus, a common arcwhale was turned into the first gigas ever, Plergoth. Plergoth proved so destructive that the Glacians knew they would be unbeatable."

Elder Prime paused, then, letting them watch once again as Plergoth was born. When next he spoke, his voice was grim. "That was the beginning of the end of things. Plergoth was set loose upon Mizukyo – your Yafutoma -- where the Glacians knew he would cause the most damage. He froze the continent solid and encased it in eternal winter, killing thousands in the process. All who came to the Aoijin's aid were completely decimated. Our ships, our weapons – everything was useless against the power of a Gigas. The other societies decided that the only way to defeat Plergoth was with a Gigas of their own. We, however, formed a shield around Soltis, called ourselves neutral in the conflict, and retreated from the world.

"A race began not only to see who could develop a Gigas the fastest, but also who could create the most powerful of them all. The first counter came in the form of Bluheim, who was born from a rare bird being exposed to the Blue Moon Crystal. She alone was not able to defeat Plergoth, but she held him at bay enough that the people of Yafutoma were able to recover and began to melt the ice away. Soon after, the Red Civilization was successful in birthing Recumen, and sent him to Bluheim's aid. Together, they were able to defeat Plergoth and drive him out of Mizukyo.

"The Glacians were vexed that the Red Civilization had interfered, and next turned their Gigas on to the Deshret's allies in Xel-Ixa; what you call Ixa'Taka. In desperation, the king of Xel-Ixa took his son to the temple in Rixis, and exposed him to the Green Crystal, turning him into Grendel. Grendel, maintaining his human intelligence, was able to defeat Plergoth by outwitting him. The remaining Glacian warriors were captured and sacrificed to the Yashi gods.

"But the Yashi were then offended that their allies, the Deshret, had not come to their aid. They turned Grendel loose upon Anunket, and he inevitably clashed with Recumen, destroying entire cities in the process. When it ended in a stalemate, the two called for aid – the Deshret petitioned the Glacians, and the Yashi called on the Aoijin. When both refused, a full-scale war broke out between the four."

Vyse stood rooted to the spot as he watched four long, powerful legs move over him. Recuman strode out to face the waiting Blueheim, whose eyes burned with rage. But Grendel and Plergoth were also waiting nearby, and all seemed to attack each other at once. Their clash was something terrible, a force so great, so destructive, that it pushed the limits of human imagination. He realized, in the back of his mind, that the Gigas then had been at their full power, mighty enough to knock small islands out of the sky. The Gigas he had faced must have been weakened from their long slumber; their victories had, in part, been based largely upon luck.

"Each kingdom decided it wanted to get its hands on the other three kingdoms' Moon Crystals, in order to have absolute power. These little gems twisted the hearts and souls of men, who lusted after them relentlessly. When the fighting spilled over into neutral Draegos, the Croceus were forced to create their own gigas to defend themselves. They captured a dragon and turned him into Yeligar, the most powerful gigas yet.

"Alone, not a single gigas could defeat Yeligar. When an invading gigas was spotted in Crocean territory, the Croceus would send him out to defend their borders and the invaders driven out. Truces were temporarily called between the fighting nations in order to repel Yeligar, inevitably drawing the Yellow Civilization into the war. Intoxicated by the power Yeligar gave them, over time the Croceus, too, sought the combined power of the five moon crystals.

"The war raged on for decades. A thousand atrocities resulted in countless deaths. Even when the world was largely reduced to ash, the foolish leaders of the five nations sought to fight and conquer, rather than to heal. From behind our shield, we watched, and we judged. Finally, as the fighting spilled over into Soltis airspace, destroying the outlying cities left unprotected by our capital's shield, we decided the world could not be saved."

Now Vyse stood in a great, dark chamber, in the center of a ring of elaborately-garbed Silvites. Their clothing was so fine that it made the others he had seen in the shrine look plain in comparison; they were so pale and fair that they looked almost unearthly. Four men and two women – one of whom looked like Fina -- stood with their arms outstretched up towards..._something_...hovering above them. It was a silver sphere, perhaps two or three times the size of his head, yet its surface looked as flesh. It had a heartbeat, he realized.

"Zelos," said Elder Prime, "our own Gigas, was born."

Vyse tried to speak, but the words would not come.

"Unlike the other Gigas, Zelos was not created from another animal. Zelos was artificial life, developed by High Elder Teletha Selvarn. It was a Gigas created from nothing, but it encompassed everything. It was truly almighty."

The woman who looked like Fina smiled somberly. Above her, Zelos warped and took her form, reaching out to touch her fingers lightly. Around it, the other elders looked pleased and, one by one, Zelos morphed into their shapes instead.

_Like Cupil..._he realized, eyes wide. _You mean to tell me that little guy is a result of the technology they used to create their Gigas?_

"The Silver Moon teaches us that everything comes from nothing. In order to complete the cycle, we were going to cleanse the world so that everything would, once again, be nothing. To prepare for the coming destruction, we detached the Shrine from Soltis and sent it high into the sky, to where we are today. Then, Elder Selvarn ordered Zelos to focus its energy upon the moons."

Above him, the heavens lit up on fire. Vyse watched in horror as the Silver Moon seemed to burn, shedding tears of white flame into the sky. All at once, huge stones with silver tails came hailing down, battering the land and tearing it apart. The great white towers on the smaller Silvite islands crumbled and toppled all around him, while Soltis sat safely protected behind its faceted shield. The scenes changed; one by one, he watched each kingdom get destroyed.

"Moonstones fell for days. The land was cleansed of its evils – all but one. The Glacians had survived in their sub-continental cities, and needed to be eradicated before they could arise to start any more wars. We sent a 'diplomat' to parlay with them. In reality, it was Zelos in disguise."

The four of them found themselves standing in Polaris again, as a woman who looked like Elder Selvarn walked down the streets. Her face was inhumanly blank, however, her eyes almond-shaped and completely silver. As she moved slowly and deliberately towards the palace, people simply...died in her wake. They made no movement. They gave no sound. They merely fell and did not get back up, as if suddenly losing the will to live.

"Zelos used the powers of the Silver Moon to silence Glacia forever. Their warmongering society had no chance to be spared, and was lost beneath the ice. We hoped that, without their influence, never again would war engulf the world. The few who escaped us became primitive fishermen in North Ocean, with no memory of their parent culture – just the same as the Ixa'Takans, whose society we decimated so that they might never again be able to develop corruptive technology. Afterwards, we put the six Gigas to sleep, and Zelos was sealed away in the heart of Soltis with a spell so powerful that only the combined energy of the six Moon Crystals could break it. Then, we sent Soltis – and Zelos – into Deep Sky, where we hoped they would remain buried forever."

Slowly, the hologram images faded away and Vyse found himself aware of his surroundings again. An insurmountable rage suddenly boiled in the rogue, turning his blood hot; unable to remain silent any longer, he grit his teeth and glared at Elder Prime.

"You killed millions! How is that acceptable?!" he demanded.

"It is a part of the natural life cycle, Vyse. We simply expedited the process for a short amount of time, in order to rid the world of corruption. I would hope that, as a Silvite descendant, you would be able to understand."

That caught Vyse completely off guard, and he took a step back. "Wait...what?"

Elder Prime's expression remained neutral. "Surely you did not think we could fit the entire Silvite race into this tiny shrine. Our numbers were in the millions at the peak of the Old World. No, Island-Dweller, in truth, we were forced to leave many of our people behind. Only the finest, the most powerful, were spared in the shrine. The rest were left to fend for themselves as the rains fell. Those who survived rebuilt from nothing. They mixed with the bloodlines of the Red and Yellow Moons and eventually lost the pale traits we had so carefully bred into our race. You, your two friends, and most everyone who originates in Meridia has Silvite blood in them somewhere."

The four of them could only stand there, completely stunned. They barely noticed as Elder Prime did something and the world faded to white again, returning them to the darkness of the Chamber of Elders. Fina looked ready to faint from shock, haunted by everything she had just learned. She wrapped her arms around herself and leaned on Aika for support, and Aika gave her a weak, but reassuring hug.

"So, young ones, now you know the truth," Elder Prime said at last, settling his chair back down where they had first found him. "For a thousand years, we have watched as the world we withdrew from rose from its ashes. But all we have seen is it fall once again into warmongering and corruption. We did not send Fina and Ramir down to Arcadia to prevent Valua from awakening the Gigas. We sent them to retrieve the Crystals so that we might once again call down the Rains and cleanse the world."

He turned then to consider Vyse, Aika and Gilder, and gave a small smile. "The three of you have done so much for us in furthering this goal. Fina always spoke highly of you to me in her communications, and I know she owes you her life several times over. As such, I have discussed it with my fellow Elders and we have decided to let you stay in the shrine and live in the new world we are about to create. We would value your help tremendously in shaping Arcadia into the peaceful utopia it was always meant to be."

"Not a chance!" Vyse shouted before Gilder or Aika could even hope to reply. "You expect me to just leave everything and everyone I ever loved behind? If the world isn't meeting your standards, that suddenly gives you the right to destroy it and slaughter everyone? I won't accept that! If you want change, you have to work hard for it yourself -- not quit, wipe the board off, and start again!"

Elder Prime did not look moved by his response. Instead, he turned his solemn expression onto Fina, who still looked ready to shrivel away into nothing. "Fina...you are one of us. Your ancestor birthed Zelos and cleansed the world. Surely you understand."

Fina did not reply. A thick, palpable silence hung in the high-ceilinged chamber instead, as the five elders looked on expectantly. Abruptly, she shook her head and stared up at Elder Prime, her expression growing stern. "No, Elders, I do NOT understand!" she cried, her tiny voice echoing off the chamber walls and suddenly seeming much louder. "How can you think like this? It's wrong!"

That sent a wave of shock rippling through the Elders, and they recoiled slightly, staring at Fina with wide eyes. Vyse, Aika and Gilder all exchanged glances and, simultaneously, their faces cracked with huge grins.

Holding her arms out to the side, Fina stepped forwards towards Elder Prime, speaking next with the utmost sincerity. "Elders...I have learned so much from the people of Arcadia. They truly are a good people! They work so hard just to get by every day, but most will gladly share what little they have, even with a stranger. I learned that while there are some who try to obtain their objectives through war, there are many others who work together to try and achieve peace." She looked back to the three rogues for a moment, and smiled fondly. "And most importantly, I learned...that no matter what happens, you can't ever give up. Even if you're lost and alone, even if your home burns to the ground, and even if you're in a situation where it seems like there's no way out..." She lifted her gaze to the elders, her smile growing. "...If you don't give up, and keep pushing forward, incredible things can happen!

"I...I believe very firmly in what I have learned, and it is important to me. Elders, please. Come with me back to Arcadia, and come see what I have seen. Or send Reyth and Celor. Someone. Anyone! Let them spend time with the people there and experience firsthand what life is like. Come see why that world deserves to keep living, forever."

Slowly, Elder Prime sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers. He glanced to the other elders, but they were equally as stunned, and silence once again reigned in the chambers.

But it was short lived.

As Prime opened his mouth to speak, he was suddenly interrupted by a muffled chorus of screams from somewhere outside. Everyone collectively jumped and spun around, trying to determine the source.

"What was that?" Prime demanded.

"I have no idea." Halos furrowed his brow. "There hasn't been this much commotion in...ever."

"It sounds like a panic out there," Aika said, frowning. "Someone might be hurt. We should go see what's going on."

Aika had barely finished speaking when the glyph beneath their feet came to life and a large figure slowly materialized behind them. Vyse stared in utter disbelief as Galcian took form inside the chambers, his massive sword drawn and stained with blood.

"Ah...here we are." He seemed morbidly pleased.

"Galcian!" Vyse cried, instinctively reaching for his weapons – but they weren't there. The young rogue's mind called up every curse and swear it could possibly invent, and he placed himself between the Lord Admiral and the others. "How did you get here?"

Galcian smirked coldly. "Did you forget, pirate? Ramirez is a Silvite as well. I still had his ship in my possession. I thought he told you that we could retrieve the Silver Crystal any time we wished?"

"You followed us all this way just to kill Fina?" he demanded.

To that, Galcian laughed. "Fina? No, she's too troublesome a target. Tracking her down would be a waste of effort better spent on more important things. I'm afraid our meeting here is one of pure coincidence." He hitched a shoulder, in what was almost a shrug. "There are other, more convenient sources to harvest from."

What happened next was almost too fast to register in Vyse's mind. The glyph came to life again, and in a stream of light, a dark figure appeared hovering before Elder Prime. There was a flash of silver, a familiar soft, metallic humming sound as it arced through the air, and then an explosion of red. With a face frozen in shock and horror, Prime fell forward and out of his chair, hitting the floor with a wet-sounding thud.

Fina screamed.

Ramirez turned the old man over and reached into the gaping wound his sword had cleanly sliced into his chest, retrieving a bloodied crystal a moment later. It still shone brightly despite the thick crimson coat covering it, eliciting a reaction from the crystal in his hand. As he leapt into the air and returned to Galcian's side, Vyse decided that Prime couldn't have been Ramirez's first victim; the blood of many stained his pale hair and formed wet patches on the blackness of his uniform.

"This world is mine!" Galcian declared, his voice booming from the chamber walls. "Arcadia, the Moons, and even this shrine now belong to me!" And with that said he and Ramirez vanished as quickly as they came, before anyone could recover from their shock long enough to touch them.

Fina was the first to recover, dashing over to Elder Prime's side. She gathered him into her arms, heedless of how his blood stained her robes, and tried to focus healing energy into his body. But slowly, quietly, Elder Halos descended from behind his crystal pane and reached out to stop her; when she looked up at him pleadingly, he only shook his head.

"He's gone, Fina. Elder Prime will finally be at peace."

Tears glimmered in her eyes, but she gave no reply. Vyse found himself cursing between his teeth.

"Damn. Galcian--!"

"Our hope lie in that Ramir did not have all six crystals. Now, that hope is shattered." Elder Orbis sighed. "I fear we may be finished."

"We no longer have the resources to contain Zelos," Stout said. "That power was lost when Teletha died."

"Our work has been for nothing!" lamented Elder Cross.

"No it hasn't!" Fina cried, wiping away her tears. "I won't give up. There still has to be a way!"

Halos considered a moment. "...She may be right. We may still have time. It took days for Soltis to sink, and it will take just as long for it to rise. Ramir and his new master will have to travel beneath the clouds, walk the entirety of the city, and re-awaken Zelos before the process can even begin."

"What do you propose then, Halos?" Stout asked. "We may have technology over them, but they have sheer numbers over us. The shrine holds one hundred thousand at the most."

"We don't need numbers. In fact, I believe just four will do." Halos turned his intense green gaze on to the rogues, expectantly. "You four are the only ones who have ever fought Ramir and lived. But as it stands now, you simply lack the training to defeat a Silver Warrior of the Moon Guard. Our soldiers fight not just with their bodies, but with their spirit as well. It is a technique that the New World has forgotten."

"What are you saying, then?" Vyse asked, cautiously.

"I am saying that we will teach you what you need to know in order to become powerful enough to defeat Ramir and the man holding on to his leash," Halos replied. "Or as much as we can in the extremely limited time we have. In the meantime, my fellow elders and I will place our judgment of the world on hold until this turn of events is sorted out. There are many things we need to discuss."

"Then let's make something clear right now," Vyse replied, firmly. "We will work with you only out of necessity, and out of the desire to protect our world. But you are still some of the most despicable people I have ever met, and I won't be staying here because I like it." He jammed a finger at him. "If we truly have the blood of your people in us, then treat us with respect! We are not 'lesser' beings compared to you, and neither were the millions you murdered in the past!"

"Vyse..." Fina said quietly.

"Cross, send them to their rooms," Halos said, turning so that Vyse could not see his expression. "Summon the High Priestess and the Blademaster. We need to know the count of the dead and injured, and whether or not countermeasures have been enacted against the invaders."

"Of course," Cross replied.

"Halos..." Vyse said, as the teleporter beneath them began to glow and the world faded away once more. "Now is the chance. If you want to redeem yourself, if you want to change, help us. Help Arcadia."

"...I promise nothing, Vyse," Halos' voice responded.

**(( For a dev blog featuring progress, updates, and theorycrafting on the story as I continue it along, please visit princess-paola . livejournal . com ))**


	36. The Judgment

A week had crawled past, leaving Enrique largely in solitude in Lower City. The prince, now an exile in his own kingdom, had taken special care to hide from his mother and his cousin's forces; he wore the garb of a commoner and kept his form concealed in the folds of a hooded cloak, passing his time by scouting the slums for secret passages the likes of which Vyse had once used to slip into the colosseum. What he found was that Madera's sewer system was actually a network of catacombs built by the Yellow Civilization, a labyrinth that linked Upper and Lower City to, he suspected, the Maw of Tartas. Judging by the condition of the tunnels, he doubted they were still in tact enough to actually reach the Maw now, but it gave him hope that other cities in Valua had similar underground escape routes. The challenge would be providing his people with such information and evacuating them in time, while somehow himself remaining hidden...

As the days passed, he found himself thinking more and more of Moegi. He knew Crescent Isle had been attacked, yes, but Belleza had never given him a death count, and for all he knew she was among them. The very thought turned his skin cold and nearly made him sick, and he forced himself not to think of it. The prince thought instead of the better times he'd had with her, walking in the gardens of Yafutoma, or watching the clouds pass atop the _Delphinus_' lookout tower, or even their shared language lessons, but the more he thought about it, the more he missed her, and the more he struggled to keep his spirits high.

Belleza herself had been in and out of the Martillos' inn frequently, although she never stayed long. When she came to Lower City she donned a disguise of her own to avert the palace's eyes, taking the identity of a scullery maid named Isabella. She told Enrique she was about gathering information and following Alfonso's movements, but so far she was yet to present him with any actual findings. The prince began to fear more and more that she was actually gathering information for Galcian instead, and began to prepare himself for what he may be forced to do should her loyalty belong to him.

But as the second week began to draw to a close, Belleza appeared in the inn one day, dressed in her uniform rather than the gypsy dress she wore as Isabella. Enrique was surprised and confused in equal amounts, pulling back the hood of his cloak as he descended the stairs to study her.

"Isn't it a bit dangerous to be walking around here in uniform? What if Alfonso sees you?" he asked.

She shook her head. "He won't. I don't intend to stay here long. We're going straight to Upper City after this."

It took a moment for her words to register in Enrique's mind. "But why would you – wait, 'we'? 'We' who?"

To that, Belleza leveled a mysterious smile on him. "You and I, Prince Enrique."

"But...why?" he asked, blinking. "I can't go there dressed like this. They'll throw me out. And if I reveal myself, I'll be thrown in jail instead!"

"Enrique, honestly. I'm hurt." Belleza folded her arms across her chest and looked smug. "I am Valua's master of disguise and deception, and you think I hadn't thought of that?"

"Well..." He rubbed the back of his head.

But Belleza only laughed. "I've got a simple solution for that. There's some spare armor on board my ship. I'm going to dress you as one of the Red Guard – then you can walk with me freely, and no one will have the slightest chance of guessing your identity."

"Simple enough." He nodded. "But you still haven't answered my other question. Why are we going there?"

She glanced out the window a moment, then looked back at him, her mirth giving way to seriousness. "These past two weeks, I've been scouring Madera in search of information. Not only am I trying to root out Galcian's moles, but I'm also trying to keep track of what the remaining fleets are doing. Not for Galcian, or for your mother...but for you. I know you don't trust me, but please believe me, Prince Enrique – I'd never betray you."

The admiral paused a moment, then continued. "Another thing I've been searching for are more of these sewer entrances you've been talking about. I wanted to see if Upper City had as many secret passages as Lower City did. Instead, I found...well, you'll just have to believe me when I say you need to see it for yourself. I don't think even the Royal Family knows about what I've just discovered."

"What is it?" he asked.

"You'll see." She nodded to him. "Here, let's get to the _Lynx_ and sail across the bay. You'll have plenty of time to change."

"Very well. Lead on."

Together, the two made their way to the docks, where one of the _Lynx_'s lifeboats waited. Once on board the flagship, Belleza took Enrique down to the armory and had him try on different suits of armor her men had left laying around. Though none of them fit the skinny prince just right, he finally, after a great deal of trouble, managed to find a set that for the most part stayed on him. Uneasily, he belted his sword around his armored waist and tried to stand under the weight of all the metal.

"How do your men fight in this?" he asked Belleza, his voice hollow-sounding as it rang around in his helmet.

She laughed. "It takes a great deal of practice, to be sure. A little more rigorous than fencing. Do you think you'll be alright?"

"Do I have much of a choice?" He grinned at her, then realized she wouldn't be able to see it and shook his head instead. "I think I'll be fine. I just need to watch where I walk."

"Good. Then let's go." She turned for the door and gestured for him to follow. "We may have a long walk ahead of us."

They made their way back above deck, where a legitimate soldier of the Red Guard was waiting for them by the gangplank. He saluted Belleza and then handed her a small pack and a coiled whip, which she accepted with a nod. The former she slung over one shoulder, while the latter was secured neatly to her waist.

"What is all that for?" Enrique asked, confused. It was rare that Belleza armed herself; he had seen her brandish a weapon all of twice.

"As I said," she replied, "We may be gone for a while."

Enrique's curiosity ate at him, but the lady admiral would say no more.

As they stepped off the _Lynx_ onto the cobbled streets of Upper City, Enrique realized just how long it had been since he'd last been there. The last party he'd been forced to attend had been well before his brash escape with Vyse, and now Madera's noble district seemed as foreign to him as Yafutoma. He knew nearly every house and every family that lived there, as he'd been by at one point or another, but in contrast to the meager lifestyle the Rogues led, the elaborate mansions and their sprawling gardens seemed like wasteful excess. His young mind churned as they climbed into a carriage and cantered off down the street, trying to figure out how his mother could have possibly allowed such a divide between the classes to occur. If his father were still alive, he wondered, would it have been the same?

The scents of glazed meat, spices, and garden vegetables lingered with that of perfume – both from the flowers and from some of the women they passed – in the air. Music and laughter were carried to them by the wind, bothering the prince more than it should have. The world was preparing to engulf itself in a war that had the potential to destroy Valua utterly, and here these people complacently ignored it, too lost in their material comforts! Didn't they care about the fate of their own country? Did they even know?

"Belleza..." he started.

"Shh," she whispered. "When you're dressed like this, you must act the part. It's '_Almirante_.'"

He sighed. "Nevermind."

The carriage took them down the main street and then turned, winding up into the hills that the largest mansions climbed. There, perched upon the highest point in the city, rose the _Iglesia de la Luna Amarillo_, or the Church of the Yellow Moon. The cathedral was huge even from afar, its spires thrusting high into the sky, crowned with copper rods to attract lightning. Angels perched like sentries from on high around the towers and the tiled roof, watching those who passed below with stony gazes. Stained glass windows sat as faceted beacons of multicolored light, glowing between the artistically twisted iron bars crowning the windows or forming balconies around them. The facade was the most impressive part, embossed with gold-leafed reliefs depicting various scenes of Valuan lore, from the founding of Madera by the Tartas to the terrible earthquake that swallowed an entire city. It glimmered dully from afar, warm and inviting to all who beheld it.

The Yellow Moon seemed to hover directly above the Cathedral as they approached it, a single draconic eye watching their every movement. Carefully, the two of them slid from the coach and Belleza tipped the driver, sending him off with the wave of her hand. She turned then to face the steep flight of stairs leading up into the great hall, positively dwarfed by the building's sheer height and mass. A prism of light from one of the stained glass windows fell down over her slender form, wrapping it in a pale shroud of colors.

"You've been to the tombs before, haven't you?" she asked, without looking back over her shoulder at him.

"Only once, when I turned sixteen," he replied. "It was to visit my father's grave."

"Did you ever go deeper, to visit your ancestors?" she asked.

"I...no. Never." He blinked. The thought had never really occurred to him.

"Perhaps you should have. You never know what you might learn from them." And with those cryptic words, she began to climb the steps. Enrique hastened to follow her, his armor clacking loudly with every movement. Why did Belleza insist on leaving him in the dark?!

Inside the cathedral, it was warm and dark. Towering stained glass windows lined the walls, separated at regular intervals by great wooden pillars carved in the likenesses of saints. A sea of pews covered the floor in neat, perfectly straight rows, enough seating for at least the entire population of Upper City, and between them down the center aisle ran a plush yellow carpet so thick that their feet sank slightly when they stepped on to it. The ceiling above rose in a high arch, and between the support beams were painted classical frescoes of more scenes of Valuan lore. At the end of the great hall, a large altar sat upon a raised dais, surrounded by burning candles and flickering prisms of yellow moonstone.

Raised upon the back wall was the most magnificent piece of artwork of all. The Yellow Moon was cast from a massive disc of solid gold, easily twenty or thirty feet in diameter. It was held aloft by angels, all of whom bowed their heads humbly to the Valuan dragon in the center – a sacred figure which, he realized, had been the image of Yeligar all along. The Church of the Yellow Moon had always depicted Yeligar as a sort of avatar for the Moon itself, but now, beholding the dragon's image, Enrique had to freeze and stare at it in fear. He'd never been overly religious, but knowing that he had played a part in killing that creature filled him with dread nevertheless.

"En—uhh...Sergeant?" Belleza asked, turning to look back at him quizzically when she noticed he was no longer following her.

"Oh! It's nothing. Apologies, Admiral," he said, quickly.

"Very well..." she replied, although she did not sound entirely convinced. "Here, follow me."

Belleza led him to the end of the hall and then to a door tucked into a corner there. It opened up into one of the towers, which allowed them to either ascend a winding flight of stairs up the spire, or follow a narrow corridor deeper into the cathedral. Belleza took the latter path and followed it as far as it would allow, where it ended in a small staircase that twisted sharply downwards. They emerged in a dimly lit hallway that clearly saw little use, and he heard her count the doors under her breath as she passed them. Abruptly she stopped, turned to face a tapestry, and walked into it. Recognizing it, Enrique followed and found himself descending another, longer flight of stairs.

Sure enough, when the stairs finally came to an end, Enrique and Belleza emerged in a cool, dry, musty chamber, with a ceiling so low that they almost had to duck in order to safely move around. It was lit only by dying moonstone shards, which cast long, eerie shadows into every nook and cranny possible. He didn't need light to know where he was, however, for it was unmistakable to him; they'd descended into the tomb of the Royal Family, where every ruler since the very first Emperor of Valua had been buried upon their deaths.

"Belleza...why did you bring me here?" he asked, pulling off his helmet and tucking it under one arm. "Why would you explore the tombs in the first place?"

Belleza didn't reply until after she had pressed her hands together and conjured a ball of fire into them. The flickering red orb rested harmlessly in the palm of one gloved hand, adding a scant bit more light to the barrow chambers. "I'm not sure what first drew me down here. I guess you could call it a hunch," she admitted. "There's always been rumors of a secret labyrinth underneath the cathedral, but they're usually waved off as tales the priests make up in order to scare young children into obedience. I always figured the rumors simply referred to the Royal Tomb, but..." She paused, looking around. "I figured if there was any one place likely to have the kind of secret passages you were looking for, it would be down here."

"And did you find anything?" he asked, curiously.

She laughed a little. "Find anything? I found something, all right. Something that predates the Nasr war, the Conquistadores, and even the era when Valua was not one country, but many small kingdoms bickering between themselves. Prince Enrique, I've found something older than even Valua itself."

"Something from the Old World, then," he said, eyes widening a little.

She nodded. "Here...come see for yourself."

The tomb before them branched off into three directions. To their right was the most brightly-lit of the barrow's hallways, where the most recent kings from his great-great grandfather to his father and their families had been buried. Straight ahead were the kings that predated even them, back to the days before Valua had discovered how to properly harness electricity. To the left was the dustiest of hallways, not even lit anymore, and it was here Belleza went. Hesitantly, the prince strode after her.

He found himself in a forgotten, narrow corridor where the elaborate tombs of the Royal Family had no place. Here, the graves of the departed were little more than small niches carved into the wall, just long enough for a body to fit in laying down. The corpses were wrapped up in blankets but many had rotted away, exposing skeletal remains to the stale air. Enrique's heart fluttered in his chest slightly as he continued to follow Belleza, unable to help feeling a bit jumpy.

How old were these people, he wondered? Valua had only been unified under one emperor for the past two hundred and fifty years, so they could not have all been his family. Perhaps, he reasoned, they were the old kings of Madera, which had been its own kingdom before becoming the capital of the Empire. Evidently, the city had more history than anyone realized.

At the end of the long hallway, Belleza stopped and faced a stone door. It was half-buried in a wall made of earth, but showed signs of having recently been cleaned off and used. It had obviously been engraved at one point, but the shifting soil had since rubbed it away, leaving the artwork completely unrecognizable save for the faint symbol of the yellow moon crest. Waving the fireball away, the lady admiral braced herself, grasped the door with both hands and gave it as mighty a heave as she could manage and, with some protest, it slowly ground open just enough for the two of them to slip inside.

Waiting on the other side for them was a narrow tunnel, where a hand-carved stone staircase descended into darkness. Resting on either side of each step was what looked to be a single candlestick, but upon closer inspection Enrique realized they were wax sticks cradling little yellow moonstone shards, which flickered dully like candlelight. They were dusty and scratched and looked to be quite old, and he doubted that Belleza had placed them there.

Quietly, she began to descend the staircase, and he hesitantly followed her. The walk took several minutes, and during that time the prince's ears began to pop. They were descending quite a ways, he realized, enough that the atmospheric pressure was already beginning to change.

Eventually, the stairs ended in a small chamber, lit only by the false candlelight from the stairwell. Belleza conjured up another fireball and held it above her head, continuing on without hesitation into another room. This one was larger and equally as dark, and try as he may, Enrique was unable to make out any details of it. But through the windows and the door on the far end, a pale yellow light shone through, casting anemic squares of color onto the dusty stone floor. It was here Belleza headed, stepping through the door into the light outside.

As Enrique emerged behind her, his eyes widened. They stood on a small balcony overlooking a colossal cavern, likely ripped into Valua's mantle by one of its many violent earthquakes long ago. What amazed him, however, was that nestled into it was a darkened city much like Terga Daré in the Maw, with houses carved from the stone itself. It wasn't nearly the deep-running metropolis that Terga Daré had been, and somehow it was mostly devoid of the twinking lights of its sister, but it was still sizable enough that he couldn't see how far into the cavern it ran. His eyes tried to follow the various bridges and walkways weaving back and forth across the chasm, but inevitably he found himself lost every time. So far as he could tell, they stood on the far southern end of the city, on a rise overlooking several small, darkened houses. Or...were they tombs?

"Belleza..." he breathed. "It's just like the Maw of Tartas. Where are we?"

"I wish I could tell you, Prince Enrique," she replied, gazing out at the city below. "As far as I can tell, this is a small city left behind by our ancestors. I've spent some time exploring it, and it's amazing. I've found markets, store rooms, bath houses, theaters...everything our people might possibly need to live safely and comfortably away from Lord Galcian, if only we could figure out how some of the things down here work."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, for instance, water. They have some sort of aqueduct down here that delivers them fresh water from somewhere," she explained. "We'd need it so the people can drink and wash, but I have no idea how to get the aqueduct flowing again. It seems to be controlled by a complex machine. I'm not sure I want to touch it."

"Hm." He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "At least the electricity won't be a problem. Fina said these cities have enough power to run for the next thousand years."

She nodded. "We have light and heat, and more than enough comfort if we clean things out. But that will perhaps be the biggest challenge."

He blinked. "Why?"

Belleza made a sweeping gesture across the chasm, indicating the entirety of the city. "To be honest, I haven't been able to explore even half of these ruins. I ran into trouble the last time I was here. In the heart of the city, the guardians are still active. They're protecting something there, and I don't know what it is. But as long as they're there, they present a danger to any refugees we might evacuate down here. I can't bring my men down to root them out; Alfonso will notice the Fourth Fleet moving. So that leaves..."

"You and I." Enrique paused, then chuckled despite himself. "Isn't that always how it goes, though?"

Belleza was wry. "You've become adept enough at dungeon crawling, haven't you? What do you think? Should we try to secure this place ourselves, or search somewhere else?"

"Galcian could strike at any time. We don't have the time to search, especially when we're just taking shots in the dark, so to speak." Enrique frowned, studying the streets in the distance. "Well, Admiral? What does our enemy look like?"

A grin slowly spread across Belleza's face, and she knelt down to rummage through her pack. Gesturing for Enrique to get closer, she smoothed out a small map on the floor and settled her fireball beside it. It was crudely drawn at best, a sketch of rough lines done in fresh ink, and he realized she had likely attempted to map out the ruins in her time exploring them.

"This is the only portion of the city I've been able to explore. Right here is where we're standing – by the passage to the tombs." She reached into a pocket and produced a small glass marker, which she placed upon the indicated spot. "Down here is housing, leading to a market and forum in the northwest and the baths and aqueduct in the east. As you can see, past these points the canyon divides the city into several parts, leaving only a few dubious choke points for us to actually move through."

"Dubious?" he echoed. "What's wrong with them?"

Belleza indicated a few intersections of the map. "In truth, a lot of these bridges are either damaged or destroyed. They likely didn't withstand the centuries of earthquakes that have hit Madera, so it's unsafe, if impossible, to cross the canyon."

Enrique furrowed his brow, looking up from the map to gaze at the canyon. In the darkness, he couldn't see what condition the bridges were in. "But there's a way around it, surely?"

She nodded. "Thankfully for us, these people were used to living with earthquakes. They have a system of yellow moonstone magnets that helped them pull things across the chasm."

Something suddenly clicked in Enrique's mind, and he stared at the admiral. "Is that why you had me wear a full suit of armor?!"

Belleza looked guilty. "It's serving two purposes, Prince Enrique!"

"Belleza! I'll never be able to pull myself off!"

She laughed. "The magnets can be activated and de-activated using Yellow Magic. I think you'll be fine."

He grimaced. "Forgive me if I'm not reassured."

"If it's any consolation..." She tapped her chest lightly, causing it to make a dull plinking sound. "I'm wearing armor under my uniform. I'll likely get stuck too."

He forced a smile. "Oh well...might as well give it a try, right?"

She grinned, sheepishly. "I was hoping you'd remember what Vyse taught you. Good. Now with all due respect, my prince, don't interrupt again."

He chuckled.

"Now...here in the center, from what I can tell, is what they're protecting." Resuming her businesslike demeanor, Belleza circled a finger around a sort of island in the middle of the chasm. "You can't see it from here, but this is a giant pillar of stone holding up the ceiling of this cavern. Carved into it is a building that's obviously important somehow. I've only observed it from afar, but as far as I can tell, there's...animated statues or something fending off creatures crawling up from below."

Enrique blinked, startled. "What could be living down here?"

"Given our proximity to the sewers, and considering what DeLoco used to dump in them?" She rolled her eyes. "Anything."

He hesitated, studying the map. "So we can only move in from one direction, and afterwards there won't be any room to run. No wonder you wanted an army."

"But good odds for a true Valuan, hm?" she asked, eyes dancing.

Enrique considered a moment, then laughed. "Belleza, are we desperate or crazy?"

She leaned back and tucked the map away, smiling with a touch of melancholy. "A little of both, Your Highness," she said. "I think a little of both."

* * *

Enrique and Belleza spent the rest of the evening camping out in the ruins and plotting their next moves. After exploring the immediate area, Belleza came to realize that the electricity in the ruins was generated in part by running water, and was dismayed to find that they would have to get the aqueduct working again before they could move further. That she elected to leave for the morning, curling up in her sleeping roll in defeat. Enrique sat up for a while simply pondering their situation, then eventually shed his armor and went to bed as well.

He couldn't tell if it was morning when he next awoke, but it was evident Belleza had been up long before him. Their makeshift camp had already been packed up and she was studying the ruins from afar, frowning to herself thoughtfully. Enrique groaned sorely and climbed out of his bedroll, reaching into his packs for something quick to eat. When he was finished, he reluctantly donned his armor and joined Belleza, who apparently had been waiting for him.

"You used to be such an early riser. What happened?" she teased.

"I started spending time with pirates," he replied with a grin.

Chuckling, the two set off.

The streets of the mysterious city were precariously narrow, at least on their side of town. They were little more than steep flights of steps that wound their way through cracks between the buildings, sharply scaling their way downwards. The two carefully picked their way lower but it proved to be quite the feat for Enrique, who had lost all of his dexterity beneath the Red Guard armor. After nearly falling several times, he finally stripped himself of his helmet, breastplate and leg guards and left them on the stairs.

"I hope you can remember where you left those. That is, after all, your disguise," Belleza said, with an arched brow.

"I'd rather search for these later than fall to my death now," he replied.

"I apologize, Prince Enrique. The streets widen out after this, I promise."

He nodded. "Either way, let's keep going. Time's not really on our side."

"Of course."

At last, the two reached the lower end of the city, where the buildings withdrew slightly to leave a lip paved with mosaic tiles around the gaping mouth of the canyon. Here they turned and began their trek east, following the edge of the abysmal pit towards a skeletal shape emerging from the cliff walls high above. As they neared, the strange silhouette began to take a more distinctive form and the prince was able to make out delicate archways shaped to look like the coils of a Tartas, stacked on top of each other as they carefully bridged their way out into the darkness of the canyon. He realized it must have been the aqueduct.

When they reached the foot of the ancient structure, Enrique craned his head back in wonder. The aqueduct was huge and towered high above them, likely deep and wide enough to sail a small ship down. Belleza considered it a moment and then beckoned him over to a darkened corner, where a strange jumble of pipes and other mechanical odds and ends sat beneath a thick layer of dust. They connected to a large console in the center, a flat-paneled creation that was completely alien to him.

"This is it. I think this is the machine that controls the flow of the water," she said. "But it appears to have been dead for a while. Nothing's flowing right now."

Enrique frowned, leaning over to wipe away the dust on the console's screen. "Will it turn on, at least?" he asked.

The admiral shrugged. "I've been afraid to touch it. Technology was DeLoco's specialty, not mine."

"Hm..." Enrique studied the buttons on the panel. A few of the words actually looked vaguely Valuan, and he furrowed his brow as he thought. "This almost looks like the Old Language."

"I bet it is," she replied, folding her arms over her chest. "Modern Valuan is supposed to have evolved from the Old Language."

"Maybe we can guess at the words, then..." he mused. "Let's...try...this..."

He reached out and pressed a button marked by a circle with half a line through the top. The machine made a scratching, whining noise, flickered once, and then died.

"Damn."

"Stand back a moment," Belleza said.

Blinking, Enrique took several steps back to watch her carefully. The lady admiral closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, then shot an arm out towards the console. "Moons! Give me strength!"

Lightning responded to her instantly, a great fork materializing from above and striking the machine in a brilliant flash of light. It left a short crack of thunder that echoed for what seemed like an eternity through the colossal cavern, and suddenly, the console hummed to life.

"That should last it a bit," she said, with a satisfied nod.

Curious, Enrique stepped forward and studied the console as the screen on it scrolled by with numbers and figures that made no sense. After several minutes of making mathematical calculations, the screen produced a three-dimensional diagram of the entirety of the aqueduct and began to highlight parts of it in different colors. He furrowed his brow as he gazed at the picture, trying to decipher what words he could from the Old Language by comparing them to words he knew in Valuan.

"It's damaged," he finally decided. "The water's not going to flow through to all parts of the city."

"I expected as much, to be honest," Belleza replied. "Further in, you'll see that part of the city's sustained a lot of damage. It hasn't fared so well through the earthquakes over the years. But I'd say we may as well power as much of it as we can – it should make traveling easier."

"Well...let's see what I can do here..." Enrique leaned over the console again, searching for words once more. "Water..._Agua..agua...aqua?_ Yes, that must be it." He pressed the appropriate button, and the machine buzzed at him. A block of letters popped up on the screen that he couldn't read and couldn't get to go away, and he growled at it in frustration.

"What's wrong?" Belleza asked.

"I don't know what it's trying to ask me," he replied.

She shrugged. "Just say 'yes' then."

He frowned and glanced the console over, but couldn't find a "yes" button. Finally he resorted to simply pressing them at random until something happened, and while the machine seemed very unhappy at him, it displayed water running down the aqueduct in a flickering animation.

Up above, in the distance, he heard a grinding sound and then a loud clang. It echoed hollowly into nothingness, and for several heartbeats nothing happened. Then the pipes around them began to churn and there came a hiss of steam, and suddenly a great, low rumble caused the stone archways above them to creak and tremble. Wide-eyed, Enrique and Belleza stumbled backwards right as a great surge of water came crashing through the mouth of a tunnel high above, pouring down the aqueduct in a wave that came crashing down its sides. It spilled along where they had stood and then down into the blackness of the canyon, sparing them only by precious feet. Then the surge subsided and the water resumed a much more normal flow, leaving them wet and startled.

As they stood there trying to compose themselves and piece together what, exactly, had just happened, they became distantly aware of a grinding noise somewhere in the heart of the canyon. A low, lethargic hum reverberated from the base of the caverns, but it steadily picked up rhythm, until suddenly there came a great flash of light that momentarily blinded them. It did not go away, and it took a couple of minutes for their eyes to adjust before they could turn and see where the light was coming from.

The city was alive now, they realized. Electricity had returned to each of the houses, causing them to twinkle like the golden manors of Upper City from afar. The windows burned brightly and the streets were lit by frosted globes of glass that had flickering yellow lights dancing within them, reminding Enrique very much of fireflies. He could see much further now that the caverns were illuminated, and could see that further on, the city had indeed crumbled. Many of the houses blended together into a tangle of walls, wires and rubble, and they looked lost and forlorn in the midst of all the light. From them came only an eerie, greenish glow, which he decided was rather unnerving.

"Well. That's one way to do it." Belleza was wry as she reached up to wring her hair out, a faint smirk playing at her lips. "At least navigating the city will be safer now."

"Eheh...sorry." Enrique smiled sheepishly at her. "So where do we go from here?"

Belleza tied her hair into a knot to keep it out of her face for the time being, then turned to face the city once more. "From here we backtrack and head for the ruins in the distance. That's where the magnets are. Are you well enough to move?"

"Of course," he replied. "It's just water."

She nodded. "Good. Let's go."

Soggily, the two retraced their steps and followed the canyon lip northwest instead, their path illuminated by the glows from the houses and from the strange firefly-lamps along the streets. As they walked, the prince couldn't help but to admire the city and its remarkable craftsmanship, grateful to be able to see it up close after having simply flown by Terga Daré in the Maw. Each house was a work of art, he realized, decorated with intricate knotwork that embraced the stylized shapes of different people and animals over doors and along domed ceilings. Light, breezy curtains still hung in many of the windows, and painted glass lanterns were strung between the rooftops. Up close, he realized that there was a lot of metal included within the stonework, giving some of the more weathered buildings a bit of a patched-up, unfinished look.

With the aqueduct now active, water poured out of several parts of the cavern. It ran through the city and cascaded down into the canyon in several places, leaving only narrow, crumbling bridges for he and Belleza to pass over to the other side of the waterfalls. Other bridges spanned off into the darkness where the city's light could not reach, but he could see that many of their silhouettes had indeed crumbled away, leaving two arms of metal and stone unable to reach each other across the gap.

For a time, all he was aware of was the cascade of water and the hum of electric lights. But as they drew closer to the northern ruins, something else began to echo up from below as well. It was a strange chittering noise, and he noticed Belleza stiffen lightly as she heard it. He tried to ask her what was wrong, but the roar of the waterfall they were passing over cut him off, and he decided to simply leave it.

Finally, the ruins rose to block their path, and they found they could go no further. A large chunk of the ceiling had fallen from above long ago and shattered the road they walked on, smashing away parts of it and covering the rest in tons of rubble. Belleza considered it a minute and then turned to face him, readjusting the weight of her pack over her shoulder.

"This is more or less where my exploration ended. From here it gets difficult," she said. "These ruins are tricky to navigate, and they're crawling with..._things_. I don't know what they are. But no matter what, do _not_ let them touch you."

Something about her tone unnerved him more than her actual words did. Enrique suddenly felt uneasy, but he nodded. "Let's go."

Belleza reached down and pulled her whip from her side, holding it tightly in one hand as she began to scale the rubble. Enrique followed with some trouble, and together the two climbed up into an alcove high above, where a protected street had once run through a forest of pillars into the rest of the city. They carefully shimmied along it but soon were forced to hop down into the remnants of a house when their path was blocked by another cave-in, landing roughly among shattered pottery and ruined furniture. They carefully squeezed their way out of the half-blocked door and then wormed their way through another house, forced to push away debris as they went.

They emerged in a crumbled courtyard, which looked like it had once been a part of an open-air market. In the center sat a shattered fountain, which now sputtered fresh water onto the ground and sent it flowing gently downwards into the houses several feet below. The two carefully picked their way to the other side but found a sort of fissure separating them from the other half of the city, neatly dividing the districts in two. Belleza studied it a moment, her gaze tracing the twisted support beams above them, and suddenly she raised her whip and lashed out at one of them. It coiled around a beam tightly and she gave it an experimental tug; it held.

Before Enrique could ask what she was doing, the admiral took a bit of a running start and then leaped out over the fissure. The whip pulled taut underneath her weight but it did not budge, and allowed her to neatly swing over to the other side. Then she swung it back for him and he fumbled to catch it between his hands. He hesitated a moment, but followed suit.

Belleza loosened the whip with a flick of her wrist and the two continued on, carefully navigating over the tops of crumbled walls like balance beams. Eventually they were forced to slide down and wander their way through a large building of some sort, jumping down its many floors and hiking its many flights of stairs. When they got to the third floor, however, it suddenly buckled and collapsed underneath them, sending them plummeting for the ground.

A stretch of awning broke their falls, but they still hit the ground hard. Enrique winced as some loose debris came raining down on his head, blinking his eyes open moments later to try and regain his bearings. They were in a large, darkened room full of statues, which he couldn't quite make out without light. The floor was made of fragments of tile shaped into larger squares, and in the center, where they lay, was a massive disk made of gold. It had circuit lines etched into it, two of which branched out and cut through the floor, vanishing into the darkness.

Suddenly, something came clattering down from above, causing the two of them to jump. It hit the disk on the floor with a loud metallic ringing and spun for a moment before coming to rest with a low clang. Blinking, the two crawled forward to study it, confused to find a smaller disk identical to the one they now sat upon. Carefully, Enrique picked it up and turned it over in his hands, studying it closely. It was only about a foot in diameter, and looked like it fit in to something.

"Before you ask," Belleza said, her voice wry, "I have no idea what that's supposed to be for."

He chuckled. "We should hold on to it, though. It looks important."

"A key, perhaps?" she mused. "If so, that'd be some pretty strange luck."

Enrique nodded in agreement, then stood a bit heavily. "Oof. That hurt. Are you sure I need all this armor? I haven't seen any magnets yet."

"We're almost through the damaged portion of the city," Belleza replied, standing as well. "Just a little bit farther and we'll be at the magnetic rails. I just hope we can find an easier way back."

"Me too. This is starting to hurt." Enrique winced lightly, tucking the disk away for the time being. He offered Belleza a hand up, and together the two blindly stumbled their way out of the strange room.

After clearing their way through a few more houses, they dropped down to the first floor of a two-storied building and stepped out to find themselves in a narrow, four-way intersection, two streets cast into complete shadow. Enrique could hear something scratching and shuffling around them, but could not see anything in the darkness, and immediately felt Belleza stiffen beside him.

"Prince Enrique..." she whispered.

"What's wrong?" he whispered back. "What's that noise?"

"Don't. Move."

He froze, his eyes meeting hers in the darkness. She looked over his shoulder, and he felt his hair stand on end.

In a move so quick he couldn't quite follow it without turning his head, Belleza snapped her arm and sent the tongue of her whip cracking sharply just past his ear. He flinched and stumbled away as something shrieked and hissed behind him, splattering his armor with a bit of sickly-colored ichor. A second later, a huge green insect, somewhat resemblant of a cockroach crossed with a spider, tumbled to his feet. It writhed convulsively beneath the pain of a shell cracked neatly open, struggling in vain as its life fluids leaked from its body.

"Wh-what is that?!" he blurted, eyes wide.

"I don't know what it is," Belleza replied, stoically. "But I do know that you do not, under any circumstances, want to let one get near to your head. And that's exactly what that one was trying to do to you."

The prince swallowed thickly. "What...happens if it climbs on your head?"

She gazed at him a moment, then shivered and turned away. "We need to keep moving. I know there's more around."

The lady admiral conjured a ball of fire into her hand and held it above her head, moving to take a few steps forward. But as soon as the light fell into the alley before them she froze, and she and Enrique could only stare in horror at what they saw. Carpeting the ruins before them, positively covering the walls and street in a writhing blanket, were hundreds of the giant insects, slowly clattering their way towards them.

Every instinct within Enrique screamed for him to turn and bolt. He drew his rapier and whirled around towards one of the other streets, only to find it crawling with insects as well. Desperately, he turned for the road behind him, and then to his right, only to find that they were similarly swarmed. The two of them had no way out.

"Belleza..."

"...I know." She swallowed and waved her ball of light away. "Oh moons, this is going to be ugly..."

Darkness fell over them again. A heartbeat passed. Then two.

Belleza made the first move.

"Moons...give me strength!"

The air grew heavy and flashed an angry red, before abruptly exploding into flames. They shot down each tunnel and instantly incinerated many of the insects, causing them to hiss and scream as they were rendered to ash. That seemed to invoke their ire, and all at once they charged, moving with frightening speed. Stumbling backwards, Enrique had just enough time to call to the Yellow Moon and form a meager bubble of light around himself and Belleza before they attacked. With a hair's width to spare, the lunging insects bounced harmlessly from his shield but immediately began to swarm all over it, covering it with their writhing bodies. Feeling it threatening to collapse beneath him, he cringed and poured more energy into it.

"Prince Enrique!"

"I'm fine!" he grunted. "Keep killing them!"

Belleza turned around and invoked the Red Moon again, but this time it was an incantation he didn't recognize. The air around him became as heavy and unbreathable as that of Nasr in the middle of summer, and he began to perspire beneath both it and the strain of maintaining his shield. Suddenly, the lady admiral slammed a fist into the ground and the ruins around them simply exploded, catching him off guard and causing him to fumble the barrier. He and Belleza were thrown back by the force of the aftershock, down a street, through a window and into another building.

It took a while for Enrique to recover. Groaning, the prince sorely scooped himself up off the ground and dug himself out of fresh rubble. He got to his feet in time to see Belleza do the same, brushing ash out of her hair.

"What in the world was that?!" he demanded.

"Pyrulen," she replied. "As far as I know, it's the most powerful fire spell in existence. I guess I should have warned you. I'm sorry, Prince Enrique."

He winced a little. "Was that really necessary?"

"I could see your shield failing. I had to wipe them out somehow," she pointed out.

The rubble around them shifted. Without thinking, Enrique called to the Yellow Moon again and sent forks of electricity snapping out from himself in a shower of sparks. Three or four inhuman shrieks immediately came in response as he struck more insects down where they hid.

"I can't blow this whole place up. We need to keep moving!" Belleza cried.

"Right behind you," he said.

Hastily, the two climbed up out of the house and ran across a crumbled wall. Below them, they could hear scores of the angry insects skittering up from the shadows, and that spurred them on all the more. They scrambled up onto a dilapidated rooftop, but immediately leaped away as it began to collapse beneath them, instead diving through a window into the second story of another building. Here they raced down a flight of stairs and back into the street again, keenly aware of shadows scurrying after them right at the edge of their vision.

They jumped a fallen bridge and continued on, racing down an alley. It opened into another four-way intersection and they dashed down a tunnel, only to find the insects there waiting for them. Without thinking, the two sprang through the swarm and kept running, following the tunnel as it twisted and wound its way downward.

Suddenly, before them, a gaping hole emerged from the darkness where a portion of the tunnel floor had caved in during an earthquake. Without slowing, the two raced forward and jumped, just barely clearing the gap. But the insects behind them gave no pause, simply scurrying over the ceiling and walls to avoid the hole, and that provided them with no time to rest. They continued to flee, shooting around a corner only to find another, larger gap. Without thinking, without pausing, they cleared it with their heels left dangling over the blackness, and spurred on.

Then came a third gap. Belleza managed to clear it but Enrique, weighed down by his armor, fell just short. He cried out and managed to grab on to the edge, where he dangled precariously above the chasm below. Belleza scrambled to a halt and turned to grip his hands with her own, struggling against the weight of his body to pull him up again. He fought against gravity and dug his greaves into the rock beneath him, and slowly hauled himself back up.

But by the time he was safe again, the insects were upon them. One dropped from the ceiling and landed upon Belleza's head, and she screamed as its segmented legs began to wrap around her throat. His heart pounding in his chest, Enrique jerked his rapier out of its scabbard and, with great precision, ran the creature through. It immediately let Belleza go and she staggered away, leaving the prince to flick the impaled creature from his blade.

The two stood back-to-back, pinned against the confines of the tunnels and the pits around them. Enrique drove his rapier through the insects as they attacked, and Belleza likewise lashed them in two with her whip, but they came so quickly that soon they had to resort once more to magic to deal with their sheer numbers. When it became clear that they were getting overwhelmed once more, they turned and again fled; the tunnel mercifully ended, and opened into wide, paved streets once again.

Enrique's energy reserves began to drain fast. He wasn't sure how much longer he and Belleza could continue to run from these things. But what else could they do?

Darting between buildings, the two climbed their way up a rise, making a break for a large bridge up ahead. As they came over the hill, however, they were forced to skid to a halt, their hearts sinking in their chests as they came to discover that this bridge was out as well, plunging into blackness over the canyon. Behind them, the insects closed in rapidly, a dark wave spilling over the skeletons of the buildings and through and out their windows. There was simply nowhere else to go.

Setting her brow in determination, Belleza stepped forward and began to sling every spell she knew at the encroaching insects, searing them away with fire, frying them with bolts of lightning, blowing them into the canyon with gusts of wind, or smashing them beneath a hail of ice. Her spellwork was truly awe-inspiring, and time seemed to slow in the flashes of red, yellow, blue and purple light she cast across the pale stone around them. But for all her magical prowess, Enrique could tell she was tiring quickly, and there were simply far too many insects for her to clear out alone. They needed a way out before she killed herself by over-casting. But where?

The prince glanced around, frantically, his eyes finally darting to the ceiling in desperation. To his surprise, there was something hanging from the cavern ceiling high above them, some sort of rail that glowed dimly in the darkness. Suddenly remembering what they had discussed earlier, he reached up for the rail and called upon Yellow Magic once again.

"Moons...give me strength!"

Strands of electricity shot from his fingertips and up towards the strange contraption above. Immediately he was yanked from his feet and pulled into the air, and with a startled cry, he found himself pinned to the rails within seconds. All of the sudden he was left dangling upside-down several feet up; vertigo threatened to overwhelm him, and he was forced to close his eyes as his beret tumbled from his head and down into the chasm below.

"Belleza! Above you!" he shouted. "There's magnets above you!"

The lady admiral stumbled backwards, forced to the edge of the bridge. She glanced up, and without hesitation, shot a fork of lightning at the rail. The magnet immediately pulled her upwards and she gave a startled cry, pulled to safety right as the insects poured over where she stood. As she landed against the magnet with a low clang, she fought against an insect clinging to her leg and manage to kick it off, glaring at it balefully as it plummeted into the chasm far below.

"_Cabrones_..." she murmured. Enrique had to laugh despite himself at her sudden, uncharacteristic vulgarity.

Down below, the swarm convulsed in confusion at the sudden loss of its prey. They watched as it lingered a while, combing the area for the two of them, but eventually it gave up and retreated back into the ruins as one rolling black tide. Enrique and Belleza sighed in relief.

"I suppose calling that close would be an understatement," the prince said.

"Mm. Yes," Belleza replied after a moment. She shifted, then tried to stand. Slowly, she braced her feet against the rail and rose to her full height, and to Enrique's amazement, it held. All he could do was hang there pinned by his back while she took a few experimental steps forward – upside-down.

"How are you doing that?"

"The magnets are powered by electricity, like I told you," she said. "Currently it's holding us here by the metal in our armor. You should be able to walk too."

Suddenly it dawned on Enrique just what Belleza was planning. His pale gaze flicked out towards the blackness surrounding them, following the hanging magnetic rail as it wound its way out over the canyon. It must have gone on for at least a quarter of a mile, and he couldn't tell if there were any breaks in it further on or not. At most, it was only eight inches wide.

"You...want us to walk across the canyon like this? Upside-down on a tiny little rail?" He swallowed, thickly. "Isn't there some sort of car that rides on this or something?"

"If there is, it isn't on this side of the city," she replied, turning to face him. "What's the matter? I thought you did this kind of thing all the time with Vyse."

He tried to grin, but it betrayed his nervousness anyway. "Not...exactly. Vyse was the one who did all the cliff-jumping and sky-diving and gigas-taunting. Not me."

Belleza only smiled, amused. "Well, Prince Enrique, there's a first time for everything." And with that, she turned and began to carefully walk down the rail, balancing gracefully upon it.

With a sigh, Enrique shifted his weight and tried to get his feet underneath himself. He bent awkwardly at the middle, and when he tried to push himself up, he only managed to get his gauntlets pinned to the rail instead. Twisting, he pulled his hands out of the gauntlets and suddenly swung downwards, crying out in alarm. Belleza whirled around and lashed out at him with her whip, catching him around the wrist and pulling him towards her in order to steady him. For a long time the prince simply froze, trying to calm the racing of his heart, as he stood there upside-down on his own two feet. He could have sworn he was falling.

"Are you alright?" Belleza asked, studying his face from afar.

He nodded, slowly. "...Yes. Yes, I...think I'm fine now."

"Stay near to me, Prince Enrique. I promise I will catch you if you fall."

The prince smiled a little, taking a few cautious steps out. "Thank you, Belleza."

She returned the smile, then turned and carefully strode off.

The world was surreal turned upside-down, and it wasn't long before he had to fight against the feeling of the blood rushing to his head. He winced and tried to focus on Belleza instead, walking where she walked, moving as she moved. Ahead, a large shape began to emerge from the darkness, defined more in shadows than it was light. It was a massive pillar of rock several hundred feet in diameter, standing among other, smaller columns that helped to hold up the ceiling of the colossal cavern.

As they drew even nearer, he was able to make out the details of the great pillar. What looked to be a monument of some sort was carved into it, sporting rounded facades, many windows, and images of dragons everywhere. Balls of electricity lazily floated all around, pale and ghostly lights that moved erratically but never left the presence of the structure. At its foot, the aqueduct ended and cascaded down upon a great water wheel, which churned slowly and powered a complex-looking machine he couldn't even begin to fathom before spilling down to another level of aqueducts below. He could hear the water flowing somewhere far beneath them, but only barely.

The more they neared, the more the curtain of darkness was pulled back, and finally Enrique simply froze in his tracks when he realized something was moving on the monument landing ahead. He stared in wide-eyed horror as he recognized the shapes of the insects, clinging to some sort of shambling, four-legged creatures that scaled the sheer face of the pillar up to the monument itself. There, four stone golems shaped like stylized versions of Yeligar relentlessly fought them off, caught in what seemed like an eternal stalemate. He couldn't even begin to guess at how many there were.

"What now?" he asked Belleza, as he finally caught up with her.

The lady admiral pursed her lips, studying the scene below critically. "It's been like this for days now. I don't know how long those things have been attacking or even what they're after, but apparently they've got steady numbers."

"Would the golems attack us too?"

"That I don't know," she admitted. "This is by far the closest I've been to here."

Enrique frowned. "Let's get a little closer. As long as the magnets hold, we're safe up here."

She nodded. "Of course, Your Highness."

They followed the rail as close as it would allow them to the central pillar, relieved to find that it actually ended at the landing. Sure enough, a sort of gondola hung from it far on the other side, although it looked wanting for serious repair despite being sheltered by a rocky outcropping. They carefully swung down on top of it, swaying uneasily as the blood quickly poured out of their brains. It took the prince several minutes before he could move properly again.

Ducking behind the outcropping, the two watched the ongoing battle carefully, although they could not see much behind the bulk of one of the golems. Enrique watched the construct move, wondering how such a thing could remain powered over the centuries. Then it turned, and his eyes widened slightly as he recognized a familiar shape between its shoulderblades and wings, embedded into its back: a golden disc like the one he had found earlier.

Before he could say anything, he felt Belleza grab his arm, and when he turned he found that her expression looked sick. She gestured hurriedly for him to remain quiet, then pointed out past the golem to where a few of the creatures they were fighting had managed to crawl up nearby. He followed her finger, and immediately regretted it; what he saw made him nearly sick too.

Now he understood Belleza's warnings about not letting the insects get near his head. The creatures that they "rode" upon were, in fact, human beings, all dressed in the tattered garb of Lower City residents. Somehow the insects had attached themselves to the tops of their skulls and taken their bodies over, leaving them as little more than walking corpses. Although they weren't quite at the point of decay, their skin was veiny and ashen, their bodies emaciated, and their eyes sunken and hollow. Many had lost their hair, and several were beaten quite badly. It was like something out of a nightmare.

He couldn't tear his eyes away, even though he inwardly yelled at them to stop looking.

"B-Belleza..."

"Those poor people..." she whispered. "They must have been homeless, living in the sewers..." Slowly she shook her head, her gaze going distant. "I...I don't know what to do, Prince Enrique. These are our people. Innocent people. But I don't think they can be saved..."

A golem whirled around and struck at the nearest puppets with its tail, sweeping them from the ledge they clung to. They fell soundlessly, simply vanishing into the darkness, not even attempting to save themselves.

"We cannot leave them to this fate. Even...even if we must end them, it would be a mercy compared to this..." he replied, already feeling a pit grow in his stomach.

"Could you really do that?" Belleza asked, watching him carefully.

Enrique hesitated a moment, then sighed. "...No. No more than I could kill my own mother. And even if I could, it would be foolish to throw ourselves up against such numbers."

She nodded, slowly. "In battle, one must always manipulate the situation in their favor. This most certainly is not in ours." The admiral smiled a little. "I suggest we try to get in through the windows, and see what it is they're after. Perhaps we can clear them out if we get our hands on it."

To that the prince craned his head back, finally tearing his eyes away from the morbid sight of the cadaver-puppets to the windows high above. If they were careful they would be able to scale the carvings in the wall up to the closest window with relative ease, but would it attract attention?

Belleza didn't give him time to think about it. Standing, she flicked her whip out and secured it around the neck of a Tartas carving coiled high above. She gave it an experimental tug, then began to scale the wall, bracing her feet within the engravings beneath her. Enrique watched her a moment and began to follow her once she was halfway up, keeping a wary eye upon the battle below. They were just barely within the puppets' and the golems' sight, but so far they gave no indication of noticing the two.

With a bit of effort, Belleza hefted herself up into the closest window and peered through cautiously to the other side. It was just barely big enough for her to squeeze through, but she offered Enrique a hand up once she was there. The prince found it much harder to pass in all of his armor, and wound up having to twist at an odd angle while she pulled him through. He hit the ground unceremoniously on the other side, the red-tinted metal rattling sharply.

Cautiously, the prince hefted himself up and took a look around, his eyes widening slightly. The inner chambers were rounded and rose to a conical peak, supported only by five arches that rose to the pointed ceiling. Stained glass filled the spaces between them, depicting images of different dragons interacting with people, but they were highly translucent and behind them he could see stars and the moons moving by lazily. If it was magic, it was a very potent, very mesmerizing illusion.

Electric light filtered down from above, beaming steadily upon a rune-etched platform that hovered some twenty feet above the actual floor in the center of the room. Here, an even larger dragon-golem crouched, wrapping its claws around a stone ring that looked like a gate or a doorway of some sort. Both were silent and still, sleeping as far as he could tell. But something bothered Enrique. Other than the golem and the ring it held, the chambers were completely empty. What was in here that the other golems wished to protect so badly?

As if sensing the question on his mind, Belleza carefully dangled over the edge of the landing they stood on and dropped to the platform below. She glanced around and then slowly approached the statue, but neither the dragon nor the ring it held did anything as she approached. After a moment, Enrique followed suit, pulling the golden disk out from where he had secreted it away.

She eyed him. "You think that's the key to all this? That's a bit of a long shot, Your Highness."

He gestured to the golem. "Didn't you see? These disks were powering the other ones. Perhaps once activated, it can make more sense of this situation."

Belleza turned wry. "Or it could attack us."

"Well...yes." He grew sheepish. "But shouldn't we at least try to get to the bottom of this mystery?"

The admiral laughed. "I'm not stopping you, Prince Enrique. I am prepared for whatever happens."

"Then watch my back."

So said, the prince began to scale the dragon's back, bracing his feet against its intricately-carved stone hide. As nimbly as he could in his still-clumsy armor, he managed to work his way up between its shoulderblades, resting between its small, folded wings. Here he found a shallow hole, just big enough for the disc he held to rest in, with small wirelike protrusions that matched the circuit-like etchings in the object's face. After studying it for a moment, he slid it into place, and an electric pulse shot through the dragon's "veins".

For a few breaths, nothing happened. The golem sat in complete silence, still sitting stone-still. Then suddenly it shifted and came to life, its eyes illuminating with a yellow glow as it shifted and mechanically hefted itself upright. Enrique gave a small cry of surprise and fumbled to grab a hold of one of its wings before he was pitched off, as the golem turned to look at Belleza.

_Quid est nomen tibe?_ it droned in a hollow, metallic-sounding voice.

The admiral took an involuntary step back, blinking up at the construct. "Er, I don't...I do not understand you."

_Quid est nomen tibe?_ the golem repeated.

"Moons..." Belleza murmured, rolling her eyes.

The golem sat back in response, its eyes dimming as it began to make a series of strange clicking, grinding and whirring noises somewhere internally. This persisted for several minutes, and during that time Enrique debated climbing down from it. He wasn't sure whether or not it was a good idea to alert the construct to his presence.

Lingual shift detected. Analyzing language corruption. Does she understand it now?

Belleza blinked. "I...yes, yes I do!"

What is your name? the golem asked.

Belleza hesitated a moment. "I am Belleza. And the man upon your back is Enrique."

Names Belleza and Enrique are not on the list of personnel authorized to access the Gate. Please remove yourselves from the chambers immediately.

"Wait. What does the gate do?" Enrique asked, leaning over the golem's shoulder. "Please, we need to know."

This is an advanced warp gate leading to the Quorum. At present it is deactivated as its moonstone resonance was attracting subterranean parasites to the city.

"A bit late for that now..." Belleza murmured.

Enrique slid down from the golem's shoulder and landed back on the ground, craning his head back to look up at it. "What is the Quorum?"

That is knowledge restricted to the Royal Family and their retainers only. Please issue another inquiry.

"Ah, but I _am_ of the Royal Family!" Enrique insisted. "I am the prince of Valua and its only heir!"

The golem stared at him unblinkingly. Name "Valua" does not register.

He felt Belleza grab his arm. "Prince Enrique, it's pointless. This thing has no way of knowing about the modern world. The only knowledge it has is thousands of years old."

Request for database sweep acknowledged. Checking logs of last maintenance...

Belleza blinked. "What? But I didn't--"

Last estimated date of maintenance was approximately one-thousand, four-hundred and sixty-two years ago. Status: database is out of date. Please update with current data.

"What...is it going on about?" Enrique boggled.

Please enter name Valua into the database.

The prince blinked. "Valua is the name of this country -- the country now beneath the Yellow Moon. It was built over the lands that once belonged to your empire."

Draegos is no more?

"Yes...Draegos is no more."

Who has conquered Draegos?

"Er...nobody," Enrique replied. "Draegos was destroyed in the Rains of Destruction. The survivors went on to build Valua in its place."

Does the Dragon Pact still stand, then? the golem asked.

Enrique blinked, glancing to Belleza for a moment. "You mean the one between humans and the Tartas?"

Affirmative.

"We're...not sure," he replied after a moment. His mind drifted back to a few months ago, when the Tartas in the Maw had emerged to guide the _Delphinus_ to Yeligar. "They are holding up their end of the bargain to humans...but I think the people of Valua have forgotten the dragons."

The golem sat back again, beginning to make strange noises once more. This continued for a great many minutes, and after ten or so had passed Enrique was ready to give up and move on. But as he turned to speak to Belleza there suddenly came a burst of light, and his eyes widened as he watched a pool of swirling yellow energy fill the stone ring at the dragon's feet, rippling like water. Outside, he heard a terrible shrieking sound and dozens of claws scratch against the walls, with a sudden urgent frenzy he could not ignore.

"What are you doing?!" he cried.

It is my duty to guard the pact. The pact must be renewed. If he is truly a member of royalty, he is to pass. If he is not, the Tartas shall exterminate him. Please move with haste. It cannot leave the portal open for long.

Enrique moved to reply, but Belleza shoved him into the gate without warning. His voice was cut off as soon as he found it, and together they drowned in a sea of white.

Time seemed to freeze. Enrique felt as though he was suspended, floating forever, and he was never sure exactly how long the white was there. The world returned to them slowly, fading in sense by sense: first his hearing, than his sense of touch, smell, taste, and finally sight, leaving the bewildered prince sprawled upon cool, weathered stone. Slowly, he picked himself up and looked around, blinking in confusion. Where were they?

Somehow, the two of them had wound up outdoors. The sky was perfectly clear and offered a beautiful view of a deep blue blanket, speckled with stars and illuminated by the pale glow of the Yellow Moon. The silhouettes of great craggy mountains rose as jagged black spires in the distance, ringing them on all sides. Where they sat now was in a bowl-shaped valley, where towering pines and fir trees spilled down from the rocky slopes and carpeted the land around them. The wind whistled through them faintly, leaving them to bend and sway in the breeze.

A great rocky upheaval, almost half a mountain in itself, rose up from the forest floor. It was here a great platform had been carved, composed of several stone rings that rose some fifty feet above his head and interlocked together. All but one of the rings had crumbled away, their carvings stripped by the wind and the rain.

It was upon this platform that he and Belleza lay, apparently dropped there by the strange gate. He peered around, but there did not appear to be a gate back; all that existed nearby was a small stone altar, upon which rested a single carved Tartas horn. Panic began to creep in at the edges of Enrique's mind, but he forced himself to remain calm. Surely the ancients of Madera would not have made a one-way portal. Surely there was a way back.

Belleza spoke first, gazing around as she slowly pushed herself to her feet. "Pine trees? How far north did that thing send us?"

"I don't...recognize this place at all," he replied, standing as well. "I don't recall this landmark ever being mentioned on any maps."

The lady admiral strode forward, picking up the horn and turning it over in her fingers gently. Her eyes were searching as she studied the instrument; somehow, despite having been outside for generations, it had stood defiant against weather and time.

"That statue spoke of a pact," she said, halfway thinking outloud. "You seem to know more than I do. Care to fill me in?"

"There's not much to tell," he replied, with a bit of a chuckle. "It is said that in the old days, the people of Valua had a pact with the Tartas. They agreed that neither would hunt the other, and they would instead care for each other, so that both could thrive. Each year it was supposedly the duty of the Royal Family to renew the pact, but then something happened that sent the dragons into a deep sleep, and the people forgot about them."

"And that is why they say Valua was built on the backs of dragons," she finished. "Interesting."

Enrique strode forward then, joining her in the study of the object. His hand fell to the altar, where an inscription in the Old Language was carved into the surface, weathered into unintelligibility. The prince lightly traced his fingertips over the foreign words, frowning in thought.

"I wonder if this is the pact? The statue said it had to be renewed somehow."

"You think there's truth to that legend?" she asked, arching a brow.

Enrique turned to her, speaking with conviction. "I witnessed it, Belleza! When I was down with Vyse in the Maw of Tartas, a pair of dragons came to help us out! The stories must be true!"

She blinked, turning back to the altar. "Then...how would we go about doing it?"

He hesitated, biting his lip as he stared at the altar in thought. If there was an official ceremony of some sort involved, he certainly had no way of knowing it. But then his eyes strayed to the horn in Belleza's hands, shaped like a musical instrument, and he got an idea.

"May I see that?"

She nodded, handing it over.

Enrique studied the horn a moment, noting how it had been skillfully hollowed out. It was nearly as long as his forearm; the tip had been fashioned into a mouthpiece, and the ends were connected by a leather cord, presumably so it could be carried and transported. Shifting it so that he held it in both hands, he carefully climbed upon the altar and stood so that he was facing the moon, aware of Belleza's gaze upon him the entire time. Then, the prince closed his own eyes, drew in a deep breath, and blew as hard as he could into the horn.

A deep resonance bellowed throughout the valley, echoing from every mountain wall. It hung long in the air before it finally faded into silence.

"What was that for?" Belleza asked, after a long moment's pause.

"Just wait," he said. "I think I understand."

He blew into the horn again. This time it was echoed with a low rumble from the far end of the valley.

Belleza stiffened beside him, warily. "Prince Enrique..."

Now he blew a third time, and the ground beneath them began to tremble, nearly knocking him from the altar. He and Belleza reached out to grab it in order to keep their balance, glancing around wildly as the trees began to quiver and rock and then began to heave. Without warning, the earth suddenly burst before them, spraying dirt and rock everywhere. The old arbors splintered as two colossal shapes thrust from the ground, coiling into the night sky.

Enrique and Belleza ducked away for shelter as soil, rock and wood showered down upon them. When they looked up again, they received quite a shock: two enormous Tartas had emerged from the ground, one with scales of copper, and the other with scales of bronze. The copper dragon had a whole mess of horns on its head, worn and tangled like a crown of dried brambles. Its partner, in contrast, had a long and elegant fin trailing down its back, held up by rigid dorsal spines, and looked decidedly more feminine.

The prince could not help himself. He stood there, awestruck, as he stared at the two enormous creatures. Beside him, Belleza's reaction was much the same.

He wasn't certain if it was fear or awe that paralyzed him, but Enrique could not get his body to move as the two dragons lowered their heads to study the pair with gleaming eyes. A pointed muzzle butted up close to his stomach, and he felt it lurch in response; hot, moist breath was blown against his skin, tousling his hair as the great reptiles exhaled. Slowly, carefully, he lifted a hand and placed it against the nearest snout. Through his glove, their skin was tough and hard as stone, but noticeably warm.

"Can...you understand us...?" he finally asked, peering up into the Tartas' face searchingly. The Tartas lifted its head slightly, and bobbed it in what was very much a clear nod.

Belleza exhaled in wonder as the copper dragon turned its head to study her with one eye. "I can't believe this. We're standing with real dragons..."

"I told you they remembered," Enrique said. "It's the humans who forgot."

To that, the dragons snorted and pulled back, gazing down at the two as they rose to their full serpentine heights. They still watched with curiosity, but Enrique got the feeling that he had somehow hit a nerve. Belleza shot him a sidelong glance.

"That-That's why we're here!" the prince immediately protested, holding his arms out to the side. "We remember! We wish to renew the pact!"

Now the Tartas turned their attention to him, canting their heads to the side in unison. Their expressions seemed to ask, "Who are you?"

Enrique took a deep breath. "I am Enrique Hidalgo Ferdinand Diego Valdez de Madera, Prince of Astorias, Prince of Galcia, Prince of Vialla, Duke of Madera, Count of Cevero and Lord of Alague. I am heir apparent to the throne of Valua, built by the combined strength of humans and Tartas after the Rains of Destruction annihilated the kingdom of Draegos. I come before you now to ask for your aid, just as my ancestors did in the past -- Valua has again been threatened with the Rains, and now we have no power to stop it. Please...I know humans have broken the pact, but I will do everything within my ability to repair the harm we've caused. Valua needs her guardians. She needs protection that we alone can no longer provide. I...I must get my people to safety, and defeat the man who threatens us all! If Valua falls, the rest of the world will surely follow..."

He trailed off, realizing that he was pouring his feelings out to creatures that weren't even human, however formal they were worded. What use had dragons for politics and diplomacy? What did they care now of kingdoms rising and falling? It did not effect them or their well being, not in the least -- and that was assuming the two Tartas actually did understand him. He could feel their eyes boring into him, as if searching, weighing his very soul. Deep down inside, he feared what their judgment of him might be.

"We may have forgotten the pact, but Valua has never forgotten the dragons," Belleza said at last, pulling a shining medallion from her chest -- one of several -- and holding it up for the two creatures to see. Upon it was the crest of the Armada, of two Tartas intertwined. "You adorn our flags and our warships. You appear everywhere in childrens' tales. Sailors take trips to areas where you are said to have been sighted, hoping to catch even a glimpse of you. You still have our imaginations held captive, whether you realize it or not. My prince would not be here before you making this plea if he was not sincere, and if the need was not both urgent and dire. If Valua is lost now, you truly _will_ be lost forever -- for the one threatening it has no love of the country or its past."

Enrique gaped to that, staring at Belleza in shock. He had never, not once, heard her speak even remotely disparagingly about Lord Galcian -- and up until recently, she had sworn up and down that he was still loyal to Valua!

Now the Tartas lowered their heads again, staring hard at Enrique. He felt his pulse quicken.

"Please..." he said, quietly. "If the Rains fall, you will be hurt too. Any dragon caught above ground will die..."

The Tartas looked at each other. The coppery male gave a low rumble, to which the bronze female responded with a soft hiss. Then they slithered up, out of their holes, the scales of their massive bodies scratching roughly against the worn stone of the platform, and approached the altar. Sucking in a deep breath, the male leaned forward and released a powerful electric charge from his mouth, striking the altar and causing its carvings to glow. After a moment, a ghostly image appeared above it, of Enrique.

"What is that...?" he whispered.

"Some sort of...magic. I don't know..." came Belleza's hushed reply.

The image of Enrique began to animate. He held his rapier over his shoulder, as it emitted a soft green glow. As he swept it out in front of himself, the light sank into his body and bled down through his feet into the ground, forming a familiar image -- that of the dragon on the royal crest. He lifted his sword, and the light evaporated into the sky, where it instead coalesced together into a swirling portal of crackling energy. From it emerged a Tartas, fierce and snarling, but not at him -- rather, at something unseen before him.

And then, the image all at once faded.

Before he could react or even say anything, the female Tartas leaned over and, parting her teeth ever so slightly, carefully plucked his rapier from his side. He winced as the leather straps holding the sheath to him snapped, watching helplessly as the dragon took his weapon away. She dropped it on the altar with a soft clink, and there she and her mate hovered over it, humming low in their throats as they entwined their necks together. They closed their eyes and seemed to focus.

Enrique had never seen anything other than a human use magic before. He watched in wonder as the dragons' bodies began to glow, wreathed in the same green he had seen in the image. It streamed down their coils and down onto the altar, whereupon it was absorbed by the golden blade. Slowly, it lifted itself from the altar and began to hover in midair, leaving the entire platform bathed in an unearthly sort of light.

After a time, the dragons parted. The sword slowly sank back to the stone of the altar, and rested there as if nothing had ever happened. The light faded, and all was still once more. Enrique could not move until the Tartas turned to look at him expectantly; only then did his body kick back into gear.

Slowly, the prince strode forward and picked up his rapier, drawing it out of its sheath. The blade shimmered but did not appear to be any different upon first glance -- but as the light of the moon hit it, he could just barely see faint traces of an image beneath the metal. A Tartas coiled around his blade, etched in thin green lines that he knew had not been there before. He marveled at it, turning it to inspect it from different angles, unaware that the dragons were watching him with both amusement and satisfaction at the same time. He wasn't entirely sure he understood, but he did know one thing: the Tartas had just granted him a tremendous boon.

"Thank you..." he whispered, unable to meet the dragons' gaze. "I promise to honor this gift. I will not take it for granted."

The pair rumbled at him in acknowledgement. Then they turned and, looking back at him once, slithered back into their holes in the ground. The glade fell silent again as Belleza picked up the horn from where he had dropped it and gingerly placed it back on the altar, gazing after the disappearing dragons. For a time, neither she nor Enrique said anything.

"Prince Enrique..." she said at last, "...what just happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself," he admitted quietly, staring down at his blade. "All I know is that I've been judged...and they somehow found me worthy."

* * *

**(( For a dev blog featuring progress, updates, and theorycrafting on the story as I continue it along, please visit princess-paola . livejournal . com ))**


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